Back with another chapter in hand! :D I know you guys want to know what happened and why it happened, so this is the chapter where it's all explained. I hope you're going to like what I put here, even though the chapters are only getting darker.

And I've come to a conclusion that it takes me half a month to write half a chapter. -_-

I'll try my best to update as frequently as possible, but I've just no time. D:

Now, let's see everything that happens to Mel and how can Ratchet cure her?

"She… lost her motor abilities?" Ironhide quietly asked, taking in the information. He was, visibly, shocked. "That means she won't be able to do a thing."

"I think so as well." Ratchet answered. "Do you need anything, Mel? Nutrition of any sort or perhaps more comfort and heat?" he asked, but didn't get an answer in return. "One blink for yes, two for no."

She blinked twice, but then looked at Ironhide. He looked back at her, with a smile. They gazed at each other as if none of this was really happening. They had each other.

Ratchet broke up the moment quickly, "I'm sorry, but I need to dilute the energon and give it to her."

"Dilute it with what?" Hide asked, looking at Ratchet as he himself sat on Mel's couch, keeping a hand on hers.

"With blood of course."

"How can you dilute the energon with blood if they are going to mix?"

"They're not going to mix." Ratchet said with a small smirk.

"Why do I have a feeling you planned something without telling me? Without telling any of us, actually."

"Because I have. I'll put in another substance into the diluted energon. I've made it quite some time ago, it's proven to be quite useful. I called it the Separator." His real mode neared the house and crouched, Ironhide could see it through the window. Ratchet's holoform opened the house door and took a couple of needles from the hand of his real mode.

Closing the door, his holoform prepped the syringes. "Aren't you creative." He used sarcasm, "Why don't you just put that substance into her right now? To separate the blood and energon immediately."

"If I do that, the blood and energon will separate and then join again, and Primus knows what else could separate in her body. Useless and quite dangerous. With this substance, I keep putting blood into her and keep reducing the energon. Now, the energon must not stay alone in her body, unmixed, which is why I have created this-" the showed Ironhide another needle, "which will keep the energon around her lower abdomen, so that when she needs to dispose of her bodily fluids, the energon will come out as well."

"That is truly disgusting, Ratchet. Is it going to hurt her?"

"I'm not sure if she can feel anything, Ironhide. There is only one way to find out." Hide shot him a look, telling him he'd better be careful with what he was doing with Mel. "Don't worry, I'll be gentle."

"He really knows what he's doing, Mel." Hide reassured her as much as he possibly could. "Just don't panic and don't think about this. From what I've gathered from Ratchet, he made this thing which will separate the blood and energon in your body safely and when you need to…" he paused, "pee, the energon will come out. That way, we will cleanse you completely and you'll be good as new." He said with a smile.

Mel couldn't move a lot of her body. Well, couldn't move any of it, but with a lot of will power and concentration, she managed to slightly move her index finger. Ironhide noticed it on his hand, feeling her touch. It was like she was trying to reassure him as well. They were both in this together.

She could move her eyes, so when she would try to smile but failed at it, because she couldn't move her lips, her eyes would wrinkle just a little, showing just as little emotion. But it was the most she could show, and it was greatly appreciated by Ironhide.

"Don't force yourself, dear." He leaned down and kissed her forehead, his one hand caressing the side of her neck and chin. "Just hang in there. We've got a cure for you." He said with a small smile, bringing in hope into her life.

Ratchet cleared his throat, gaining Ironhide's attention. "I need a word with you."

Ironhide nodded, gently caressing Mel's cheek. "I'll be right back. Just close your eyes and relax." She didn't want him to leave her, but he had to go. "I'll be back very soon. Try not to think about all of this. It'll go away, now we have a definite cure." He said with another smile, letting go of her hands and going outside, to talk with Ratchet.

As they shut the door, they turned off their holoforms and transformed into their real modes. "Ironhide, you do realize this may not completely work. There may be side effects and her body may not react."

"What do you mean by 'not react'?"

"In one way, I mean it won't react at all at what we are giving to her, these diluted energon syringes and the Separator. The other thing I'm worried about is her body doing something completely out of my calculations and result in lifetime paralyzing or even death."

Ironhide shivered very slightly, praying to Primus that would never happen. "What is the probability of that happening?"

"The non-reaction or the reaction resulting in death?"

"Both."

"Unlikely."

Ironhide felt the weight on his heart suddenly lifted, but only slightly. She still hasn't received medication of any sort, so Ratchet had better hurry up with his syringes. "Ratchet, just go and give her the syringes and make her healthy again." Ironhide felt useless. "I pray to Primus this works."

Ratchet nodded, slowly transforming into his alt form and summoning up the holoform. It held the various colored syringes as he went inside the house.

Ironhide stood in the silence for a second, before he too transformed and put up the holoform. He knew she needed him, just in case something happened.

As he got in the house, his heart fell at the sight of his Mel. Laying in the bed, motionless, hanging on the last thread of life she had left inside her.

But he came to her with a warm smile. He wouldn't dare leave her now, even though he had a lot on his mind and could certainly use some alone time with himself, to think it all through. She needed him most now. And she mattered to him most.

Ratchet was already giving her a purplish syringe, most probably the 'diluted energon with blood' syringe. No wonder it was purple. Mix red and blue and you get purple.

Ironhide went to Mel's side, holding her hand in his. "We're finally treating you. You are going to be healthy again." He said with another smile. Her eyes glistened with happiness.

"She will go into a stasis lock."

"What?" Ironhide's head whipped to Ratchet. "Why would she-"

"The energon. It's still there and inducing it will cause a disturbance in her body. The body will shut down to prevent her from feeling any pain, if there is pain to begin with."

"Will-"

"She will wake up from it, yes. Hopefully."

"Ratchet, you glitch! She could possibly offline and you-"

"It was always a possibility she could offline, Ironhide. You're forgetting this."

"Frag you."

Ratchet dismissed it immediately. "I've injected the Separator in the diluted energon needle," he showed Ironhide the two empty needles, "the Separator will keep the energon in her lower abdomen and keep it from merging with any more blood. It will create a sort of 'bubble' which the blood cannot penetrate or move around while the heart is beating."

"Carry on." Ironhide was intently listening as he was Mel's eyes slowly closing.

"With a couple of more doses of the Separator and the diluted energon, the Separator will, in a way, attract the energon dispersed in her body into a 'bubble' which will be in her lower abdomen. When she needs to dispose of her bodily fluids, the energon will come out and the injected blood will stay."

"We're cleansing her body completely." Ironhide concluded.

"Exactly. But there is one problem."

Always a problem. "Which is?"

"She must not get ill. Otherwise it's over."

Ironhide thought about it. Winter was coming, days were shorter and cold nights were longer. And Mel always gets a disease in winter. Always. "She won't get ill. She's not going to offline. Not on my watch."

Ratchet sighed as both of the mechs watched Mel completely fall into a deep sleep. Hopefully it wasn't a coma. Ironhide let go of her hand as he sat on the sofa conversely of her. Ratchet sat on a sofa near him.

After a couple of minutes spent in silence, Ironhide spoke up again. "Now what?"

"We just wait for her to wake up. She is under a lot of stress, Ironhide. It would be best if we had the rest of the team here."

Team? "Ratchet, where did-"

"I know it's sudden, but it would do her a lot of good to have people around who care about her. Besides, we haven't seen Optimus in a while. He hasn't been to this property in quite some time."

Ironhide nodded. "I'll tell Prime to gather everyone and settle here. Will-"

Ratchet was prepared for anything Ironhide could possibly tell him. "Yes, Will has already agreed on that idea."

Ironhide sent a message to Prime, telling him to gather the team and come to Lennox's property. "Hopefully, he'll be here in a matter of merely days. Ratchet, just where should all of us fit?"

"Lennox has a, by human standards, large property. Besides, you have that garage of yours you and Lennox built. I'm sure Arcee, Chromia and Elita could fit there as well."

"I'm not going anywhere with femmes."

"Perhaps we can put in Wheelie and Brains there."

"They can go and be with Sam."

"Oh yes, Sam will be coming as well."

Ironhide stood silent until it all sank in. "What?"

"You really thought he could be left alone, without protection of any form? All of the Autobots will be here, and Sam is a constant Decepticon target. We cannot-"

"I knew that, Ratchet." He didn't really even think about it, for his thoughts were preoccupied with Mel and her healthiness, he had almost forgotten about the rest of the team that weren't present here. "Optimus got the message." He said with a sigh, as he looked at Mel's closed eyes. The color of the skin was a little purplish, a toll taken by her sickness.

As more minutes were spent in silence, Ratchet monitoring Mel's condition from a distance, Ironhide thinking tirelessly, his mind going in various directions, thinking of every outcome Rathet's actions could make. "Ironhide," Ratchet caught his attention again, "You do realize that Sam's girlfriend, Carly, will be coming as well."

"I don't care, Ratchet."

"And Mikaela will be coming, too."

"I said, I don't care. Mel's the priority here."

"I'm aware of that, but you seem to be forgetting this. Leo will be here as well. I don't want you to be unprepared. You've been so concentrated on how Melissa is and everything around her, you've been forgetting about the team. I have to remind you that we are here to give our full support."

Ironhide nodded, looking at Ratchet in the eyes, "I know that Ratchet, though I think Optimus should have been the one to say those words."

Ratchet only shrugged, his eyes drifting to Mel, looking for any signs of something possibly going wrong. There were none. Everything was going fine. "I just wanted you to know this."

Hide looked at Ratchet with an odd fondness. Ratchet hadn't been showing an even mildly soft side to him since many millennia. The two of them were silent as they suddenly heard footsteps. They both looked up the stairs, wanting to see who was coming down, only to find Jazz.

"Finally, I got lil' Belle tired of playin' tha' game. Will and Sarah are now getting' 'er to be…", as Jazz went down the stairs, his eyes fell to Mel's body. "Is she…?" he looked at Ratchet with a grimace. "...offline?"

"No, Jazz, thank Primus she isn't." Ratchet answered.

Jazz looked like the weight had been lifted from his shoulders. "Thank Primus. So what is goin' on 'ere?"

"Ratchet will explain it to you when the others come." Hide pinched the bridge of his nose in exhaustion.

"Yeah, Prime already messaged all of us to gather 'ere. I haven't seen tha rest of tha 'Bots in quite a while." He was silent for a moment. "Where're we gonna put the team and the other humans to recharge? This ain't big enough." He meant on the house.

The two of them shrugged. "We will find a way. Ironhide has that garage-"

"Nobody will come into my garage."

"So perhaps we can put the humans there-"

"No human is going in there."

"And the rest of us can be outside." Ratchet finished.

"It's this human weather that's the problem. It's almost winter. Where are we gonna find shelter?" Jazz asked.

"Optimus will find a way. I'm sure of it." Ratchet answered.

Jazz sighed as he sat next to Ironhide, as they both looked at the motionless Mel. Jazz put a hand on Ironhide's shoulder. "I pray to Primus she is going to be alright."

I know I'm being uncreative. At least a little. But at least I got everything explained in this chapter to the very last detail, as I promised. If some things are still unclear, leave your message/question in a review or PM and I will answer it as soon as possible.

Other than that, this time, not even Primus knows when the next update will come, so be prepared for a pause. A possible long one. I just can't seem to find the inspiration to write at this time, so forgive me for being this way, please.

But as always, rest assured that the story will always go on, and I will write until the very end of it. There just might be a slight pause in writing it. XD

And thanks so much for the reviews, I can't believe I'm over 450 reviews… That's a big number for me! I seriously didn't expect this to be such a hit…

And today is a very special day, because on this day (Dec 3rd 2012) I started writing this story! I'm so glad I kept the story in my mind for a WHOLE year! :D Today is our one year anniversary, so I'm giving you all a big THANK YOU! You've no clue how much this means to me!

So keep the reviews coming guys! This has been quite a ride and more's to come! :D

And also, as a last note for this chapter, I've updated my profile, be sure to check out the links I've put in there, for I would greatly appreciate the support! Everything is said on the profile, so please check it out! :D