A/N: Just a note, the transformers have different time units then us, and they are as follows:

Breem- eight minutes

Joor- six hours and thirty seven minutes

Orn- thirteen days

Vorn- eighty three years

Recovery

Charlie walked around the base the autobots had just returned with Alex and Ratchet immediately took her to the med bay. She was unconscious and he said it might be some time before she woke up, but was otherwise going to be okay. All Charlie had to do now was be patient something she was very bad at.

She sighed and slumped against the wall across from the med bay, and started banging her head against the wall.

"Stupid robots, stupid Alex being unconscious, stupid me, stupid waiting game, stupid having to be patient, stupid, stupid, stupid." She banged her head harder against the wall. "Ow. Stupid head injury." The door across from her slid open, she instantly perked up and looked expectantly at Ratchet.

"She's asleep." She opened her mouth to say something. "And no you can't go see her." She deflated slightly, how did he know her so well already? "And stop banging your head on my wall, I refuse to treat injuries due to foolishness." Charlie stood up and brushed the invisible dust off her clothes.

"Fine, you win." She started walking away when her stomach grumbled and Ratchet scanned her.

"When was the last time you refueled?"

"Huh? Well I filled up Nelly around last week, so I won't need to gas up for a bit." If I ever find my car that is, she thought to herself.

"No, when was the last time you ate?"

"Oh." She just shrugged in response she wasn't even hungry until he put the notion in her head, but now she realized she hadn't eaten since the morning before she met the autobots.

"Go eat something."

"But there's nothing in the kitchen." Ratchet sighed looked like he would have to find someone to take her in to town, he was about to contact Hound on his comm link, when he noticed Wheeljack rounding the corner consumed in a data pad. He reached out and grabbed him by the arm.

"Wha? Ratchet?" Wheeljack looked confusedly at Ratchet who just pointed to Charlie.

"Charlie needs to refuel, take her into town and make sure she gets something to eat." Wheeljack nodded before putting his data pad in sub space and transforming. Charlie just stared at him, he just made something vanish out of his hands, and had transformed in front of her, something she still wasn't used to. He opened his door and waited for her to get in, she paused. She'd never ridden with one of them before, well at least while she was awake, and didn't realize how very awkward it would be, not to mention this was the bot she was so rude to not long ago, although he seemed to forgive her.

"Go on Charlie its fine." She looked back up at Ratchet, had he just read her mind? He was really good at that. She nodded and climbed in, if Ratchet said it was fine then she would go along with it.

"Ready to go?" She heard Wheeljack's voice through the radio and gave a small nod in reply, he took off for town, and she vaguely wondered how he saw in vehicle mode.

Thirty Minutes Later…

"…and a strawberry shake…yeah that's it." Charlie was sitting in Wheeljack at the McDonalds drive-through hoping that if she happened to spill something in him, he wouldn't transform with her inside and kill her. "Wheeljack you have to pull ahead to the window so I can pay." He remained where he was.

"What is that? What's its function?" She realized he was talking about Ronald McDonald.

"That's Ronald McDonald. Umm, he's the mascot, that's just a plastic statue of him."

"That is not what humans are supposed to look like right? It looks like he has a disease called anemia." Charlie suppressed a laugh.

"No, he's a clown. They dress in bright colors and put on wigs and paint their faces to entertain people. Personally though, I don't like them." She paid the employee at the window and he handed her a shake and her food. "Thanks."

"Why is he here then?"

"To sell Happy Meals to children so that they can choke on small Chinese toys and have their arteries clogged by trans fats."

"Arteries?"

"Arteries they are…" She paused, how best to explain human physiology to a robot? "They're like small tubes inside the body that carry blood, a substance in organics that consist of red and white blood cells and plasma that carry oxygen and nutrients away from the heart."

"I see and what are trans fats?"

"They're another name for unsaturated fats, which are fats containing one or more double bonds between carbons. They have a longer shelf life and are used regularly in cooking, but they're not good for the body, they lower good cholesterol and raise bad cholesterol. This increases the risk of coronary heart disease, coronary is another word for heart, and…I'm rambling aren't I? I'm sorry, sometimes when I explain biology I just kind of keep going, and someone usually has to stop me."

"I don't mind, I find this fascinating! You humans are interesting creatures, I haven't had much of a chance to study organics, so I find this all very intriguing." Charlie sat back and sipped her milk shake. She didn't like how he said that.

"We're not just some bugs for you to examine you know, I'm just as sentient as you are."

"I didn't mean it like that. I just find this whole experience enthralling, science and engineering are my main functions." She forgave him, he seemed too sweet to actually think of her as a lower being anyway.

"S'okay, I like science too, chemistry is my minor in college." That sparked Wheeljack's interest and for the rest of the drive they discussed the chemical elements on their respective home worlds. When they got back Charlie had finished her food and was intent on finding out Alex's condition. She climbed out of Wheeljack and went looking for Ratchet. She paused and looked back at Wheeljack.

"Thanks for taking me to get dinner." She paused again. "And I'm sorry for insulting you the other day." Before he could say anything she walked away, trying to find the medic. She walked into the med bay and found said medic watching what looked like Grey's Anatomy.

"Is that how you know how to fix humans? By watching Grey's Anatomy?" Ratchet spun around startled.

"Charlie? I… um… I was… Mikaela had me watch it once and I found it very…well…"

"You got hooked on Grey's Anatomy didn't you?" She started snickering, it was just too funny. "Don't worry Ratchet I won't tell anyone I just wanted to know how Alex is doing." Alex stirred feebly. She could hear Charlie talking….about a tv show?

"Charlie, what are you doing? Shut up." Charlie and Ratchet leaned over her.

"She's okay." She rubbed her eyes and yawned a few times to clear her contacts, then started to sit up. She blinked as she felt no discomfort. Last she could remember, she had broken her ribs…….she gasped.

"Charlie, get down!" They were here, Charlie was here, they could come in any minute, she couldn't let them see Charlie, how did she even get here in the first place? She looked at Charlie's confused face, to the large, hulking, white and red robot….behind her…..

"Alex, are you ok----" But Alex had suddenly thrown herself at Charlie and sent them both tumbling to the floor. She was breathing hard and her eyes widened as she saw the robot's feet move. She pushed Charlie under her bed and followed, so they were both out of the robot's sight.

"Okay, I know this won't hold em, but we gotta distract him, then make a break for it, okay? I'll run out there, then you run for cover."

"Alex what the hell are you talking about?"

"Go!" Alex dashed behind Ratchet's feet, and ran for the door. Charlie just stared at her friend, whatever Ratchet had done to fix her worked really well.

"Wow Ratchet you rock at fixing people." Ratchet glared at Charlie.

"Go and help me find your friend before she hurts herself." Charlie shrugged and walked out of the medbay doors. When she exited she felt something grab her shoulder and yank her to the side.

"You got out. Did he see you?"

"Alex—"

"Shh. Okay we're good. He went the other way. We need to get out of here, before they kill us."

"Alex no one is going to kill us. These are the good guys." Alex stared at Charlie in shock, then grabbed her shoulders and shook her.

"They got to you didn't they? Did the purple one get to you yet? Did the purple one get to you!?"

"What purple one?" Shit, Alex cursed, Charlie was compromised. She'd have to get them both out of here before Rumble found them. Alex kept her back to the wall and began shuffling down the hall, trying to find the exit. Charlie just walked calmly beside her.

"You see Alex these guys are aliens from another planet. They kinda took up residency on earth like um half a year ago I think, cause their cube died, killing their bad guy, but its cool, cause aside from the bitchy ones they're pretty cool." Alex stared at Charlie in shock. She had gone insane! They did get to her. Who would believe aliens and cubes. They've messed with Charlie's mind!

"Charlie you need to listen to me. Alien robots are not your friends. The have lied to you for some reason, I don't know why, because they certainly didn't lie to me." Charlie stepped back. She thought Alex was just in shock when she woke up, but she wasn't snapping out of it.

"Alex it's okay, I've been here for…jeez already about two days and they've been really nice to me, these aren't the same robots that you were with." But Alex didn't let up.

"Charlie, I don't care what they told you, you can't trust them, they're huge and can squash us like bugs, we have no way to defend against them, we have to run." They continued to argue loudly, which drew out the other autobots. Jazz looked over at Ratchet nervously, who was keeping a sharp eye on Alex in case she relapsed. They were all watching them, everyone at the base except for Optimus Prime. They stood off to the side, not in the girl's immediate sight, for fear of disturbing Alex further.

Jazz felt bad. Charlie's friend was clearly very frightened of them. It wasn't hard to understand why. She had been kidnapped by decepticons, and according to Ratchet's report suffered heavy damage due to them.

"Ratchet…?"

"It's best not to interact with the humans right now. Charlie's friend is traumatized and rightfully so; we just have to hope Charlie can get her calmed down." Jazz nodded and looked sadly at the little human, as did Hound. He liked humans, he hoped they could be friends. It was then Optimus Prime entered the corridor. He had finally been distracted by the noise, and came from the control room to see what caused the commotion. Alex and Charlie both quieted and stared at Optimus in awe. He just had that effect on people. He looked at the two of them in the middle of everything, and guessed what happened.

"I see our guest has awoken. Hello little one, my name is Optimus Prime."

"Uhh, Soundwave, boss, we got company." Soundwave looked up from the control systems, trying to get his base back online. Mirage had done a number on his base before escaping; disabling any system he came across while escaping with the femme. He had been careless. Soundwave was never careless. This organic mudball had scrambled his circuits. But it wouldn't matter once he gained control of the decepticons, and destroyed this planet. Soundwave looked down at Rumble and motioned to the entrance of the control room, two transformers he didn't recognize were standing there. The first one was yellow and purple with a gun in his hand, the other was green with tank tracks on his upper arms.

"Unidentified decepticons, name your purpose." The yellow and purple one stepped forward.

"Name's Swindle, Brawl," He gestured to the other mech. "--and I heard the transmission calling the decepticons to this mud ball, sent out by the new decepticon leader, I take it that's you." Soundwave stared at the two new troops. He tried to get a read on them, but he had been damaged in the battle with the autobots, and was not functioning properly. He didn't know anything about these two and had never seen them before, he didn't know if they could be trusted but he needed more firepower. He would just have to watch them closely.

"Rumble escort decepticons Swindle and Brawl to personal quarters."

"When you were captured, Charlie was taken to our base mistakenly. When you called her and found you were a prisoner of Soundwave, we realized this was not a coincidence. So you must tell us, were either of you aware of any suspicious activities when you were together?" Alex and Charlie looked at each other from across the room. Alex was in the corner closest to the door, as far away as she could get while still being in the conversation. Charlie was being held by Jazz, who was leaning against the control panel next to Optimus. All the other autobots stood nearby, all of them continually glancing at Alex. She pretended not to notice.

"You mean like transforming cars and stuff? Nope." Optimus looked at Charlie.

"They went after both of you, which leads me to believe something happened while the two of you were together some where at the same time. Something had to have happened, whether you noticed it or not, and targeted both of you. But why?" He began pacing restlessly by the room, Alex tensing every time he came near her. Charlie frowned.

"Hey nothing happened to me!" Optimus gave her a steady look.

"If you hadn't met Hound when you did, you would have been next, I am sure of it. The decepticon energy signatures were strongest around your dwelling."

"Oh."

"It's not safe to for you two to return to your homes. The decepticons may come after you again." Charlie looked at Optimus.

"So…what does that mean we're staying with you, or do we have to get hotel rooms and go on the lam?"

"I believe it would be best if the two of you remained here, and when you leave the base to have an escort." Alex looked horrified, while Charlie pondered this.

"But we're in college and have jobs, we'll be missed." Optimus turned to the screen.

"I will get in touch with one of our human military contacts, and have all the arrangements made." Charlie looked at Alex worriedly.

"Okay, well, can we go get clothes and talk to our parents and stuff?"

"Yes, but it would be best if you did not tell them where you were staying." Charlie seemed okay with this arrangement. How often do you get to live with alien robots?

"That's cool."

"Easy for you to say Charlie, you live by yourself. Your family won't even notice. Mine will and I don't even know how I'm going to explain my recent absence to my parents."

"Oh don't worry I covered for you. You went off to join a circus, because you didn't want to go to school anymore. After realizing, that you couldn't make it as a clown you've returned home in disgrace."

"Wow thanks Charlie."

"No problem, any time." Alex just glared at her. She looked up at Optimus suspiciously.

"So you think we need to stay with you guys, the 'good robots' so that the bad ones can't get us? No matter where I go you damn robots just try and lock me up!" She stomped out of the room and went into the human quarters. Charlie looked at the autobots apologetically.

"I don't think she likes you guys very much. Don't worry I'll go talk to her." Charlie walked out the door and went to go find Alex. Hound looked around the control room, and asked the question that was on everyone's mind.

"Do you think she'll ever be able to trust us?" Optimus was the one that answered.

"Perhaps in time. She has been through a lot in the past few days, and it will take quite some time to gain her trust. All we can do is wait and make sure nothing like that ever happens to her or any other human again."

Charlie walked into the human quarters and found Alex sitting on the couch flipping through the channels, and complaining about damn robots not having cable. She went over and sat by her.

"S'up?" Alex ignored her and settled on watching a daytime talk show. "They're not that bad you know. Hound's really sweet, and Jazz has really good taste in music." Alex got mad.

"Oh so that's what you've been doing? Hanging around robots and listening to music with your damn freak friends! While I was being beaten and tortured by a purple creep!! WELL THAT'S JUST GREAT I'M SO GLAD YOU'VE HAD A GOOD TIME WITH THE TRASH COMPACTORS!"

"DON'T YOU BLAME ME! I'm sorry that happened to you, but what do you want me to do about it?! I'd trade places with you if I could! But I can't! These guys saved you! They risked their necks! Mirage is heavily damaged from rescuing you! They didn't have to you know! They could have left you to die, but they didn't, because they believe all life is important! THE ONLY REASON I KNOW ABOUT HOUND AND JAZZ IS BECAUSE THEY WERE TRYING TO DISTRACT ME BECAUSE I WAS WORRIED SICK ABOUT YOU! SO NOW WHAT? I know you don't trust them, but they're all we've got. I don't like being babysat by them all that much either." Alex and Charlie stood glaring at each other. Alex finally sat on the couch and started watching tv again.

"They better fucking get cable." Charlie sighed and went to the kitchen area. She pulled out a bag of cookies, and went to sit by Alex.

"Cookie?" She offered. Alex grabbed the bag from her, and they both settled down and watched talk shows.

"It's been a few hours, do you think she has calmed down enough to let me examine her? I'm afraid she will relapse and re-injure herself." Optimus turned to Ratchet and sighed.

"You can try. If her friend is with her, she might be more likely to cooperate." Ratchet nodded and headed to the med bay to make sure he had the necessary human medical supplies. At the same time, Alex and Charlie had started arguing again.

"You need to go see Ratchet, he can give you some pain meds, I'll go with you, it'll be fine." But Alex shook her head violently. Charlie sighed.

"Okay, we'll both go to the door, I'll go in and get some meds, and we can both walk back."

"Why can't I stay here?"

"No, they're your meds, you'll come with me." Alex sighed.

"Fine, is it close by?" Charlie sighed. Alex didn't want to see any of them. Looked like she was doing the talking.

"Yeah, come on." They went through the sliding doors into the huge corridor, and began walking to the med bay. Alex shivered and stayed close to the wall. She pushed her hair out of her eyes and was once again reminded she hadn't bathed in at least two days.

"Let's hurry, I want to take a bath."

"Kay" They walked to the med bay. Charlie left Alex at the door and went in to find Ratchet. She looked around, and spotted Mirage lying on one of the transformer sized beds, if you could call it that, it was more of a large metal table. He was in stasis, but Charlie tried not to make any noise in case he woke up. She couldn't find Ratchet, and went back out to find Alex.

"Couldn't find him. Let's go back, we can come back later."

"Fine."

"It's okay, you take a bath and we'll try back later. Jazz said Ratchet is almost always in the med bay." The two of them walked back their room, as Charlie started calling it, and Charlie watched the news while Alex started the bathwater.

"Hey Charlie, got any spare clothes?"

"No, but there's a dresser over here, hold on." They went over and started opening the drawers. In one there was just a pile of boxers, but they found one with skirts and tank tops.

"Hey cool, wonder how they got these?" Alex held up a pair of shorts and a gray tank top.

"Think they have any bras?" Charlie snickered and dug around some more.

"Hey I found one, aw it's only a sports bra." Alex shrugged.

"I'll take it. I hate to ask, but do you think they have spare underwear?"

"You mean the ones right here folded nicely next to the shorts?" Alex stared in amazement.

"Holy shit they have a full female wardrobe, do you think they have the internet?" Charlie deadpanned.

"They're alien robots, of course they have the internet. The question is whether they have human sized computers." They both hmmed. Alex shrugged, then winced. Still sore.

"I'm gonna go take my bath."

"Right-o. Oh Charlie Gibson you're so sexy." Charlie turned back to the tv, watching happily as Charlie Gibson explained everything that was happening in the world to her. She blinked, then sighed. She listened to the news curiously, wondering if she'd hear anything about the autobots, but there was nothing. Funny how these things interested her now. Just then there was a knock on the door. She got up and went out in the corridor to see Ratchet standing there.

"Hiya Ratch! What's up?"

"Good evening Charlie. Where is your friend? I need to check up on her, in order to make sure she hasn't aggravated any of her injuries."

"Oh she's taking a bath right now. I'll send her over when she's done."

"Thank you."

"Not a problem." Charlie beamed at Ratchet who looked down at her and smiled a bit, before leaving. Charlie sat back on the couch and continued watching tv until Alex came out of the bathroom.

"Hey, Ratchet came by, he wants you back in the med bay, to make check on you." Alex scoffed.

"What does a robot know about human anatomy?"

"Well seeing as he already fixed you up once before, I would say a fair amount. Come on I'll go too." Charlie dragged Alex back to the med bay.

"Ratchet we're here." He glanced over at the two of them and motioned them over. Alex moved very slowly toward Ratchet and the small bed next to him. Charlie grabbed her and moved her toward the bed. She sat down on the other side of Ratchet.

"And how have you been feeling? Any aches and pains?" He was trying to be nice, but wasn't making any affect on Alex. Charlie answered him.

"She was sore and her injuries were hurting." Ratchet hmmmed and pointed to a small cabinet next to the bed.

"Open that and take out the second container on the right." Charlie picked out a prescription bottle and read it.

"Codeine? Wow, you can keep this here?" Ratchet smiled.

"Just in case. But I would like to monitor you for the night, in case your injuries continue to aggravate you." Alex's eyes widened.

"You want me to stay in here?"

"Yes, but if it comforts you, I will soon be retiring to my recharge station. It will be almost empty." Alex looked slightly comforted. She didn't notice the robot on the table. Charlie did.

"Are you sure Alex, I could stay with you…somewhere.." There was only one bed in the med bay with monitoring devices next to it. Ratchet made to hook her up to the machines, but she flinched away from him. He sighed.

"Charlie, follow my instructions." She hooked Alex up to the machines carefully, then stood back.

"You look sick."

"Thanks." Ratchet turned and made a few adjustments, before straightening and bowing.

"That will be all my dears, I will now retire." He smiled kindly at them and walked into his recharge chambers, leaving them there. He actually kept the door opened a crack, he only pretended to leave for Alex's benefit.

"You're good right?" Alex nodded and pulled the covers up.

"Yeah I'm good. But come here right away in the morning." Charlie nodded.

"Kay. Oh, and they have coffee too." Charlie skipped out the sliding doors and Alex settled back against her pillow, her monitor beeping beside her. Ratchet smiled and let his door close. He really needed a good recharge.

"Well okay I'm just going to go to sleep. No big deal." Alex settled down again, and started looking around the room for the first time. She spotted something that sent chills down her spine. There was a robot lying on one of the metal tables. She hadn't noticed him before she was so focused on Ratchet. She stiffened, and leaned over to get a better look. He wasn't moving. She sighed, he must be asleep, or recharging, whatever they called it. She laid back down and closed her eyes.

"I'm stuck in an alien robot base, I'm injured, and I'm in a big cold room. All in all, nothing has changed. Except now I have a roommate. I wish I had real pajamas, I hate sleeping in denim…."

She sighed and opened her eyes. She couldn't sleep, she was still pumped from earlier. She looked over at her heart monitor and her chest squeezed. It beeped steadily and her eyes zeroed in on the numbers. Charlie seemed so at home here with these strange, dangerous machines. But she had seen what their kind was capable of. What would happen? Would the army do something? What could they even do at all? All they had were these 'autobots' to put their trust in. But as far as she could see, there was no difference. They looked the same, and even though they had tried at pleasantries, they treated her the same. A little human, like a pet that talked. There was no respect, no humanity. They weren't human after all. They seemed nice, but she was nothing to them. How could she even go home now, she felt so disconnected from everything. All that mattered was the beeping of her monitor, and the little numbers that measured her heartbeat. A weight settled in her chest, and she felt different somehow. Everything seemed clearer. She opened her eyes and sat up. She took careful hold of the I.V. in her arm and pulled it out and swung her feet over the bed. She walked purposefully to the door.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." Alex stopped dead in her tracks and went deathly still. She paled and turned around slowly. The mech on the table hadn't moved. Then what?

"Ratchet would probably go easy on you because you are organic, but he is very strict with his patients. He will be very displeased if you left." The voice was coming from the mech. So it was him, but he hadn't moved. She took a step back.

"What do you want?"

"Ratchet would kill me if I just let you walk out. Go recharge."

"I don't recharge. I sleep."

"Isn't it the same thing? Repairing and recovering your body from the day." Alex knew he was right, but damned if she was going to admit it out loud.

"What do you want?"

"I told you, I don't want to get murdered by the good doctor."

"Really?"

"Go recharge. You need it." Alex stepped closer and it finally dawned on her.

"You're the one from the woods. The one I ran into." He chuckled.

"Yes I am." And she gasped.

"And you were the one that…" But she couldn't say it.

"Yes." She stared with her mouth open. He had been the voice she heard. The one that tried to save her.

"Why did you do that?" She whispered. He lowered is voice with hers.

"I had to."

"Why?" She stood closer to the table then before, when had that happened? And could see the side of his face. It turned it's glowing blue eyes toward her, and she shivered involuntarily.

"Because it's what we do."