Lament—

Part Two_

Benevolence

"Where in Primus has Sam disappeared to?" Ironhide entered the large room, head swinging to and fro, "Carly is here, and she's been waiting for Sam for the past half hour."

"Bumblebee was with him last, right?" Lennox was busy filling in Rachet on the details of the space craft they would be taking. The date was fixed, and as they spoke, NASA was rigging up the craft. "I thought I saw him sleeping with him." One of the men beside Lennox blanched when he heard, and Lennox glanced in his direction, "Keep your dirty mind to yourself, eh? The kid was sleeping, and Bumblebee was watching over him, geddit?" The man nodded silently.

Optimus, listening to the conversation, walked over to Ironhide. "I passed the hangar a few minutes ago. Bumblebee was not there, and I believe it is safe to say Samuel was upset." Lennox turned to Optimus.

"I'd say we should leave him be then. Carly will probably find him there. If at anything, Sam is upset over this." Lennox pointed to the rather large computer standing in front of all of them, the sketch of the spaceship staring right back at them. Optimus stayed silent.

"Samuel would understand. We need to find Cybertron now that your world-"

"Our world, Optimus," Epps corrected, walking out of the room toward wherever Sam was in the hangar.

"-Our world has been rid of the Decepticon threat."

At that precise moment, Carly walked in, a smile planted on her face. Lennox looked over, and smiled back, a wave in greeting. "Hi, Carly! How are you?"

"Fine, thanks. Have any of you seen Sam? I'm still trying to find him in this maze of a place." She was turning her head in all directions, making a point of the bag she was carrying. "I have some clothes for him."

"Wow, a woman who is willing to trail behind Sammy boy! That kid is lucky!" Skids and Mudflap joined in the conversation, and Carly laughed happily.

"Is he with Bumblebee? I couldn't find him either," Carly asked. Lennox shook his head.

"Bumblebee isn't returning any of our orders, so I'm afraid neither one of them is near," Optimus replied. Carly's face fell.

"He said he would be here," she muttered, crest fallen. "And if he wasn't here, he'd be with Bumblebee, like always."

"I believe Bumblebee and Sam have had an argument, or a firm discussion this morning-" Optimus was cut off by Carly's quick reply.

"No, that's not like Sam. He wouldn't fight with Bumblebee over anything."

"You need to understand, Carly, that we are heading out into space to find Cybertron, and we may not be back for a while," Rachet supplied, and Carly looked down, mulling over the words.

"Even if you went, for years, and never came back, Sam wouldn't hold Bumblebee back, if Bumblebee wanted to go," she replied, "Sam knows Bumblebee would have to leave, even if he wanted to stay. He'd say goodbye, even if it was hurting Sam in the first place. Sam would want what's best for all of you."

Optimus didn't say anything. He knew what she was saying was the truth.

"When you weren't there for those two years of his life, Sam wouldn't stop speaking about you. At first, I believed he was crazy," she laughed, "But it gave me the chance to see how much he cared for all of you. Whenever he spoke of you, his face would light up, and there was this gleam in his eye, and it made me realise how much he wanted to care, to love, and be loved in return. I feel for him because of his love for you guys.

"So don't tell me Sam had fought over this with Bumblebee. Even when you left two years ago, he never gave up on seeing you again. I think, that whenever he had the chance to speak of you guys, it was a sort of solace for him."

Time stood still. Everyone watched the girl who never spoke, who stood in the background and watched the events as they fell around them, staying by Sam's side. Now she had the chance to say what she wanted to say, and she spoke of her faith in the one person she would love forever.

"We. Didn't. Fight," Bumblebee's radio shocked them all, and they turned around to see the yellow Camero sitting idly in the corner, like he'd always been there. "We. Just. Discovered. Truth." Carly walked slowly over to him, one hand tentatively raised upward, as if to touch the car, whose engine revved on her approach.

"If Sam held anything back from you, then there would be a reason, Bumblebee. You know that. Sam loves you, he loved all of you, he grew up with you. You saw his face, when-" she stopped, and Bumblebee understood what she was trying to say. The moment when Sam really thought Bumblebee was going to die, when he saw him walk, hands tied back, to his death. There was a silence.

Carly understood, Bumblebee thought. She knew what was going through Sam's mind.

She watched, wordlessly, as Bumblebee transformed, huddling into the corner, knees up to his chest, whimpering slightly. "Don't. Want. To Say. Goodbye."

"… Bumblebee?" Optimus asked, and the scout looked up, "You don't have to leave earth if you don't want to." Rachet was immediate in backing up Optimus.

"You can stay with the humans, if that is your wish."

"We are- a. Family. All. Of. Us. Need. To Stay. Together. Must be discontinued. Can't. Take. Anymore." Bumblebee held his hands to his head, and whimpered again, slightly embarrassed to be reacting in such a way in front of everyone. But, despite what everyone else on the team said, Sam was right, he was a kid too.

Carly smiled, eye filled with tears, as Bumblebee uttered the final words of a song she's heard a long time ago- "Where do I belong?"

"You belong with all of us. The Auotbots, and us humans, Bumblebee. Together. All of us," she replied. Bumblebee looked up swiftly, to see her crying, for him. Gently, he took out one of his fingers, and touched it against her cheek.

"No. More. Tears," the radios softly whirred.

The soft spell was broken the minute Epps returned to the hangar, carrying a bloody hammer, and a scarf, dripping with a lethal amount of blood. "Guys!" he called, urgency in his tone, "We have a serious problem! Sam isn't in the hangar, but these were," he gestured to what he was holding, and Lennox stared, eyes widening.

Immediately, Carly put her hands t her mouth- "Oh no! Sam!"

"There was blood all over the floor, toward the exit, signs of a huge struggle! I swear, someone was in here, and wanted to kill," Epps walked over to Lennox, who couldn't take his eyes off the scarf. Epps threw it down in an effort to wake up his buddy, and everyone watched, silently, as it touched the ground.

"Are you sure?" Lennox mumbled, still staring.

"Sure? Do I freaking look like I'm joking?" He turned around, and picked up his phone, he being the only one who could move. The underlying gloom that surrounded them deepened further.

"How could no one have seen Sam being taken?" Optimus asked, his voice haunted by the sight of so many splatters of blood on the ground, by the scarf.

"There are no guards by the exit of the hangar- We thought no one would find interest in the back of the building, and since there was no Decepticon threat- Jesus Christ!" Lennox slammed his fist into the metal table beside him, tears brushing his eyes. "For fuck sake! Who in their right fucking mind's would take Sam? Shit!" Everyone started, looking up toward the reaction of the sergeant.

Bumblebee stared at the scarf. Sam.

Sam was taken.

Sam was out there.

"Wish I could."

"Yeah, just a dream."

Sam.

There were tears, but he wasn't sure who was making that awful jagged noise. That bloodied scarf, already red from the dye, was now sopping with the blood of his friend, his brother, his partner, his-

There was that serrated noise again, and again. Metal slumping against metal. Shoulders sagging.

Eyes closing, seeing only Sam, smiling back.

A/N: Noooooooo! What have I done? I've done something very very bad, and I know, I just know you're all going to kill me within the next few chapters... I'm sorry! :'(

But I do have to say, I love what went on between Bee and Carly... She really is a sweet girl... N'awww!

xoxoxox