Hi everyone! So this chapter is going to show a little bonding between Alise, Epps, and Lennox. Next chapter will be the moment you've all been waiting for! Hopefully you all enjoy! Review and tell me what you think!
As always, I own nothing!
~Mel

Alise had only been walking for a few minutes before she had fallen down. Her body was starting to give up, the blood loss finally winning the war against her. After all the delegates and workers at the convention center were evacuated, she and Oscar ended up outside of the building, across the street. It was there that he had finally seen the terrific smoke in the now closer distance. He told Alise he wanted to stay close to the center, just in case somebody was to come. She agreed with him, but warned him to be careful. She then said she was going to search for a medic she knew who could help her. Oscar was a little wary about little her go alone, but ultimately watched her leave, silently thanking her.

She had only made it two blocks away from the convention center when her legs had given out. She fell hard on the sidewalk she was walking on and she cringed as she landed on her arm. She was right in the mouth of another alleyway, and she slowly crawled into it in her knees. Propping herself against one of the walls, she gasped as her back made contact with the brick. Her eyes felt extremely heavy, and she couldn't help but let them close.

A darkness was starting to overtake her and she felt as if she was lifting. Nothing around her was solid anymore, the wall behind her and the ground below her seeming to disappear. She felt like she was floating.

Suddenly in the dark, she started to see faces pass before her. They were images of Camilla and Sal, her parents, and some of the people she had grown up with, all of whom with looking at her with smiles on their faces. She couldn't help but smile back at them.

Then, more recent pictures appeared. These, however, were moving. They were the memories of the people she had met in the past few days. She first saw the faces of Lennox and Epps laughing at her as she looked down on them. Then there was Sam and Mikaela, the three gathering around Agent Simmons as Mikaela forced him to remove his clothes. After, she saw the Autobots gathered around her as Optimus introduced them all.

And then, last but most defiantly not least, she saw Bee. Unlike the first few, there were more images of the two of them than just one. All these scenes felt more real to her than the others did also, her feeling as if she was really there.

She saw herself sleeping on him in the warehouse-

Alise!

She saw the two of them up on the billboard, looking at all the lights in Hollywood-

Alise!

She saw herself and him in front of her house back in Arizona, him asking her to come with him-

ALISE!

The images stopped abruptly. She felt herself being pushed somehow and her name being yelled out. It was then she knew she couldn't let the darkness shallow her. She didn't want to leave. She wanted to live. With her friends, old and new. With the Autobots. With Bee.

"ALISE!"

She felt herself crashing down from the darkness. She suddenly felt a pressure on either side of her, and something hard against her back. The world was coming together around her. She opened her eyes.

Kneeling in front of her was Lennox and Epps, and another man that Alise didn't recognize. Epps had his hands on her shoulders and he was shaking her, previously trying to get her to wake. She was back in the alleyway, no longer in the darkness. She was hit with all her senses and the pain from her back at once. A tear rolled down her cheek from both the pain, and the happiness that they were there. They had found her.

Lennox let out a hot sigh of relief.

"Dammit, Alise," he breathed out. "Don't do that to us!"

She raised her head a little to look closer at them.

"Lennox? Epps?" she said weakly, her voice not being able to find her.

Epps let out a small chuckle. "Hey, girl," he said, removing his hands from her shoulders. "You really had us worried there."

"How'd you find me?" she asked, a little strength finding her.

"We got word some girl crashed a delegates party," Epps said, smiling at her. "You wouldn't happen to know anything about that, would you?"

Alise grinned weakly. "Maybe." She chuckled once quietly. "They're probably still pissed."

Lennox and Epps looked at each other, a knowing look passing between the two of them.

"On the contrary," Lennox said, looking back at her, "I think some of them may want to shake your hand."

Alise gave him a confused look. "What? Why?"

Epps grinned. "A little bit after you got everyone out, a Decepticon fell on the place. Would've killed everyone inside." He paused for a moment and put a hand softly on her shoulder. "You saved them, Alise."

Alise paused. Even though the whole point of her going into the building in the first place was because she wanted to make sure they were safe, she didn't believe it would really be necessary. But for her to have saved them, really saved them, she couldn't wrap her mind around it. What if I hadn't gone in there? she asked herself, but she quickly dismissed the thought. She had gone in, and they were alive and safe in their hotel outside of the battle zone. The thought, however, took her breath away.

"Do they know?" Alise asked.

"Oh, they will," Epps said humorously, again with a laugh. "Girl, they're gonna owe you big time."

Alise laughed, but suddenly stopped catching her breath. Her back had reached badly to the movement. Epps's expression turned serious.

"Alise, what's wrong?" Lennox said calmly, yet worriedly. He almost forgot about her injury. "Talk to us, Lise."

"My back," she breathed, a single tear starting to form in her eye. Lennox nodded.

"Okay," he said quickly. "Lise, this is Paxton." He gestured towards the unknown man. "He's going to take a look, okay?" Alise nodded a little and Paxton kneeled in front of her.

"You're going to need to turn around and lie on your stomach, okay?" he said. She nodded once more and with the help of the three, she was slowly lowered onto the ground in front of her. Lennox and Epps cringed when they saw the large patch of blood on her shirt. Paxton slowly lifted her shirt off the area, and he undid the scarf wrap she put around it. Epps and Lennox both cursed when they saw her wound.

"Damn, Alise," Epps breathed heavily. "How long have you been walking with this?"

Alise didn't answer for a moment, still trying to get used to the uncomfortable position they put her in. "Ever since the blast," she said quietly. "I got hit with some metal. I pulled it out in a restroom in subway."

"Lise," Lennox said loudly. "That was over two hours ago. Where did you go?"

"I hit my head on a wall in the alley. I couldn't think straight, and then-AAA!" Paxton had been examining the wound and touched a painful spot on it. Alise cried out in surprise and pain and more tears filled her eyes.

"Sorry," Paxton said, but he continued to work and Alise continued to speak.

"By the time I came to my senses, I couldn't find my way back."

Epps was about to speak again, but Paxton quickly cut him off.

"Alise," he said calmly. "Are you loosing feeling in any part of your body?"

Alise gently nodded. "My fingers and my toes."

Paxton nodded, but sighed.

"That's what I figured," he said. "By the size and depth of the wound, and for how long it's been open, you've already lost too much blood. We have to get this closed up or you could go into shock soon. You're going to need a blood transfusion."

"Okay," Alise said. "I think Ratchet could fix me up quickly enough. Where are they?"

"Ratchet," Epps said. "He's the medic, right?"

"Yeah," Alise said. "He fixed my arm easily. Maybe he could-"

"There's no time," Paxton interjected quickly. "It's too risky to move you, and you need help now. You already blacked out. It won't be too much longer before you'll do it again and you won't wake up next time."

"Ratchet's a little busy at the moment anyway, Lise," Lennox added.

Alise froze.

"Why?" she asked worriedly. "What happened?"

Lennox cringed. He mentally kicked himself for saying anything. "Nothing, Lise, everything's okay."

Alise didn't believe him in the slightest. "Lennox," she growled with as much force as she could muster. She looked up at him from the ground. He sighed.

"Bumblebee had a little problem, that's all." Alise felt her heart drop. It started to pound furiously against her chest.

"Problem?" she said, her voice climbing an octave. "What do you mean a problem?"

"Alise," Paxton said calmly. "You need to calm down. Your blood is pumping too fast now, and it isn't going to help your situation."

"Alise, he got a little hurt," Epps said steadily. "But he's going to be fine, okay? Ratchet is fixing him up and he'll be as good as new." He smiled reassuringly at her and laughed once. "His biggest problem at the moment is you."

Alise calmed a little but she gave him another confused look. "Why am I a problem?"

Lennox chuckled. "After you disappeared, he went a little nuts. He's really worried about you. I told him I'd bring you back to him, and I intend to do just that. If not, I think he's gonna skin me alive."

Alise smiled. She wanted to see him so badly. She was about to respond when Paxton cleared his throat.

"Did I mention we need to do this now?" he said, a little warily. Lennox and Epps's expressions turned dark.

"What do you need to do?" Epps's asked hesitantly.

"I'm gonna need to stitch her up," Paxton replied. He paused.

"Okay," Lennox said, not seeming to see a problem. "Then just-"

"We used up the last of the pain killers I had an hour ago."

Lennox and Epps paused. They looked at each other grimly and then turned back to him.

"How many?" Epps asked.

"Ten, more or less."

No one spoke for a moment.

"It there any other way?" Lennox asked him. Paxton shook his head. Then he got out his kit and started to thread a large needle.

"Alise," Epps said softly. "This isn't going to feel good, girl."

Alise was silent for a moment. She was scared. She didn't want anymore pain to come to her, experiencing too much of it already that day. But she knew that this needed to be done.

"Okay," she said weakly and worriedly. Epps gave her a weak smile and took her hand tight in his. She put her head into his arm. She felt her hair being gently run through with fingers, and she realized it was Lennox trying to give her some comfort.

"Ready?" Paxton asked softly. Alise felt two hands press onto the uninjured part of her back. She knew it was to probably keep her down. She nodded into Epps's arm. "Okay."

She then let out a loud pained noise as the first stitch pierced her skin.