-0-

Tamela was worried about Joyce. She hadn't been at the hospital and her friend, Sarah, blubbered that two Cybertronians taking her away after the driver begged not to remove her from the scene. Tamela needed to get with William Lennox as soon as possible. He would know what to do since he was an ex-military colonel. She hugged Sarah, wishing her to get better before leaving her hospital room. Tamela wiped a few tears from her eyes as she got into the waiting black car. "Well?" Robert asked.

"No. No sign of her in the hospital."

"Let's go to Colonel Lennox." Robert insisted.

"What about the curfew?"

"To hell with the curfew! Our daughter's out there somewhere alone!" Robert exploded, not realizing what he had just done. He looked over to Tamela, noticing fresh tears. "Honey. I'm sorry." Robert apologized. "I'm so sorry." They both hugged. Robert then turned around and drove away from the hospital.

-0-

Unbeknownst to them, a lone cybertronian spy, the size of a huge hawk, followed them and reported its findings to a well-known Mech. "Laserbeak to Soundwave."

"Soundwave acknowledges."

"Location of Robert and Tamela found."

"Mission: Keep updating on whereabouts."

"Yes sir."

-0-

Soundwave watched the human youngling on his monitor with sympathy. He had commanded Laserbeak to make sure the parents of the human youngling stayed away from Megaplex and to make sure that they made it to Lennox. Though he was considered a Cybertronian, he didn't want to see the parents captured and questioned by Barricade. Soundwave knew Optimus Prime was the only reason why Barricade hadn't questioned the human youngling.

Soundwave leaned forward when something caught his optic. The human youngling was murmuring something in her sleep. Soundwave pressed a button on the side of the monitor and her voice came through the speakers. "No! You can't Mom! You can't Dad!" Soundwave heard pedes walking up behind him. Turning his helm to see who it was, it was Ironhide.

"Your shift is up, Soundwave." Soundwave nodded, but couldn't help listen in when Ironhide sat down. His optics narrowed at the feed.

"What is the human youngling doing?" Ironhide asked.

"Response: Dreaming of her creators."

"Sounds like she is dreaming a nightmare." Ironhide noted.

Soundwave looked down the hall the human youngling was in and started down the hall. "Where are you goin'?"

"Settle fears." Soundwave answered, not looking at Ironhide.

-0-

I tossed and turned while I dreamed of my Mom and Dad. They were standing there, waving and telling me that I wasn't going with them anymore. They wanted me to stay with the Cybertronians. I became Bumblebee's ward, while Optimus Prime and Prowl lectured me every single day about something important that I shouldn't be witnessing. My parents appeared again and told me I couldn't see them anymore because I wasn't theirs.

Then someone began shaking me awake. "Stop! You can't go!" Then I heard a voice. "Human Youngling! Awake!" I stirred and my eyes snapped open to reveal a large Cybertronian standing over me. I jumped. I looked around, seeing the gray room, and that's when I realized I had a terrible dream. "I need to go to the bathroom, please." I said, still reeling from that awful dream. The Cybertronian stood by and I got up from bed. I walked into the bathroom and freshened up. When I stepped out of the bathroom, the Cybertronian still stood there. "Um, can I get a glass of water?" I asked.

"Affirmative." The Cybertronian answered, turning to leave, but I hurried out before him. "Human Youngling stop."

I turned to look at him. "What?" I asked. "I-I don't want to be alone." And ran up the hall, despite it being bigger than me. It seemed like a long hall before I heard an alarm. I stopped in the middle of the hall, holding my ears and thundering, running noises coming from in front of me. I saw a black Cybertronian racing down the hall and then everything went quiet when the Cybertronian stopped running towards me. The Cybertronian crossed his massive arms against his chest. The Cybertronian looked very intimidating and scary. I retreated several steps until I bumped into the Cybertronian behind me. I felt two servos and fell into the Cybertronian behind me. "I will return with water. You stay in your room."

"No, please! I don't want to be alone."

"Orders must be obeyed." The Cybertronian holding me said.

"But can't there be an exception?" I asked, close to tears.

The black Cybertronian held out a servo. "Give her to me."

I crawled from one servo to another. I sat down and the black Cybertronian walked up the hall to his station. I saw a number of screens from each room. Each room had humans locked up and asleep. I felt thirstier and heard metal footsteps coming from the hall. The other Cybertronian left the hall.

"What's your name?" I asked sitting down on the desk.

"I am Ironhide, Human Youngling."

"I'm Joyce." I said. "How many humans are in there?"

"Well, those humans are rebels. We house them here." Ironhide explained.

I looked at the monitor. Each room had a single human in those small gray cells. I wasn't tired any more and the reality of the nightmare terrified me. They separated families from each other and maybe the nightmare was right. I wasn't going home anytime soon or possibly even seeing my parents. A lump formed in my throat and I swallowed. I wasn't going to cry in front of this 'Ironhide' or that other one either. The other one returned with a glass of water in a tentacle. I stood up quickly and backed away from the tentacle. I didn't move toward the tentacle and it placed the glass of water on the desk next to me. I waited for the tentacle to go away, I walked over to the glass and picked it up. I took a sip and then slowly drank it. I finished my drink and gestured to go back to my room. I would cry in private without anyone looking at me. They didn't move.

"You had a nightmare." Ironhide said. "Do you need to talk about it?"

"No." I said. "I'm fine." I lied even though the nightmare was still fresh in my mind. I also knew if I went to bed, I'd dream it again.

"I have comforted human younglings when they had nightmares. You may tell me what nightmare you had."

"No. I'm okay. I'm tired now. I'm ready to go to bed now."

"Very well. If you have another nightmare, I will wake you up. Good night, Joyce."

"Night." The other Cybertronian helped me back to my room. When the door closed, I took deep shuddering breaths before walking toward my bed and slipping under the sheets and blankets. It was then I covered my head and sobbed, hoping they weren't listening in or watching. But I was mistaken.

"Human youngling." Ironhide's voice sounded from a speaker. "What are you doing?"

I finally answered, "I miss my Mom and Dad. Optimus Prime won't let me go home and they want me to stay here."

Ironhide didn't say anything for a while. "Human youngling. Optimus wouldn't keep human younglings without a reason. Some humans are here for their protection."

I took a deep breath and sniffled. "Protection?"

"Yes."

"But he told me he wasn't going to let me go home."

"Not until he can figure out where the rebels are. You may be here for a while, but you will not have to worry about what happened to you early this morning. Joyce, get some sleep."

I rubbed my wet eyes with my arm and turned over the pillow. I stretched out and said, "Ironhide?"

"Yes, Joyce?"

"Thanks." I closed my eyes and tried to go back to sleep, but I just couldn't. I lay on my back and lay awake. What if Optimus Prime had been right about detaining me for a duration? What if he was doing it for my protection? But against whom? My own Mom and Dad? I shivered again, wondering if I was cold or coming down. I snuggled further into my blanket and sheet, but I was still feeling cold. I wondered if Ironhide was listening or watching. I got out of bed to go to the bathroom. I turned on the lights and grabbed the clothes. I looked through the clothes, but there was no long sleeve shirt. I left the clothes on the sink and went to the door. I rapped on it several times. "Hello!? Let me out of here! I'm freezing in here!"

"Joyce? What are you doing up still?"

"I'm freezing! Can't you do something?"

"Stand by. Well, I'll be slagged! No wonder you're cold. Your own temperature in there is 64 degrees. I'll raise it up to 72 degrees. Now, try to go back to sleep."

I went back to bed and snuggled into my blanket and sheet. I took a deep breath and relaxed. I began to feel a lot warmer and began drifting to sleep.

-0-

Joyce had a long long night it seems. I hope she'll wake up tomorrow morning. Please review and thank you for reading. :)