The holidays have kept me busy. Now that they are all out of the way updates should be back on schedule. In the mean time, please enjoy this short interlude chapter.

Thank you

"Optimus!"

Cathleen's eyes shot open at the loud crash. Whatever was below her was soft and slightly damp. Right, it had rained. She tried moving but she wasn't able to feel anything. Panic began to take over and her eyes still hadn't completely focused. She couldn't see or hear correctly. What happened? She had woken up in the ambulance but what happened after that?

She put her head back down and shut her eyes trying to focus. Facts, she needed to focus on things that she knew. Things that she remembered.

My name is Cathleen Cauldern. I am twenty-six years old. I recently lived with my fiancé Jason in an apartment. I left him three weeks ago. I am homeless and on the run. I met and traveled with Optimus. I am somewhere in Virginia now. I was in an ambulance.

She took a deep breath reciting this in her head. What had happened?

"Cathleen? Cathleen, can you hear me?" She nodded not trusting her eyes or voice to cooperate with her. The voice sounded familiar.

"She's awake!" The voice shouted. So, she had passed out then? Right, hadn't she hit her head? She still couldn't feel much. How injured was she?

"Cathleen, there was an accident. The ambulance is still safe for transport but we needed to remove you for your own safety. You're safe." Ah, it was the voice of the medic. Tanner. She slowly opened her eyes finding things becoming clearer. It was like looking through a fog and her eyes teared up, but she could make out Tanner's blurred figure.

"The . . . the other medic?" He had been bleeding.

"He's fine." Something in his voice told her otherwise.

"Optimus?" She attempted to sit up, but Tanner pressed lightly on her shoulder to keep her down.

"He's discussing the situation with the higher ups. You won't be able to see him for a while." Tanner explained.

"Was he hurt?" She wanted to clarify what information she wanted.

"No." The weight that lifted off of her surprised her. "I know you want to move, but until the ambulance is cleaned we're going to need you to sit still for a bit. Do you want anything?"

"The feeling in my legs to come back." She chuckled dryly having to hack out a few coughs. Her eyes widened in panic when she tasted copper.

"It's alright, that's normal for your condition." Tanner rolled her to the side letting her spit the blood out on the grass. "I need an oxygen mask here!" Tanner shouted to someone off to the side. Cathleen squeezed her eyes shut feeling a pressure on her chest and her lungs felt like they were burning. She spat out another mix of blood and mucus. What was happening?

"Tanner?" She attempted a question.

"It's alright. We'll take care of you." He reassured her placing the mask over her mouth. Cathleen closed her eyes. It was easier to breathe but she still had a lot of questions to ask. She got the feeling that many would remain unanswered. "Better?"

She could only nod as her response.

"Good, rest here for a bit. I need to check on a few others." She nodded again watching Tanner stand and move about the others. She noticed they were once again at a side exit filling station. It wasn't busy but she guessed that was from the military shutting down the exit ramp to get here. She looked around seeing soldiers and medics milling about. There were a few injured, some were talking on the phone, but her eyes caught sight of a very familiar Peterbilt. She noticed two men talking around the grill of the truck, but Optimus wasn't anywhere to be found.

He's busy.

Cathleen shook her head, closing her eyes. She wanted to block out the sounds going on around her and sleep. Tanner had told her to rest but she was too concerned to do so. What had attacked them? Why on the highway?

Why had Cathleen imagined giant robots?

"Don't be stupid." She muttered to herself. She pulled her knees to her chest leaning her head against them. She was comfortable on the ground and with the mask she felt calm. A light doze wouldn't hurt, would it?

"Cathleen?" She was jolted awake by Tanner's voice. "We're clear. Have you been sleeping this entire time?"

"Sorry." She muttered rubbing her eyes. She felt drained and didn't have the motivation to move.

"Your fever has come down but hasn't broken." He checked over her vitals. "Not like the ground is helpful." The comment was not directed at her. "Think you can stand?" Cathleen slowly made her way to her feet and followed Tanner to the ambulance.

"Where are we?" Cathleen asked climbing into the back. Tanner instructed her to lay down.

"Virginia, did you forget?" There was concern.

"No, just double checking." Cathleen's voice was soft while she lay there. She heard the engine rumble to life and the vehicle begin to make its way back onto the highway.

"Homeless, huh?" Tanner asked removing the oxygen mask from her. She was glad it was still easy to breathe.

"Yeah." She didn't really want to think about this right now. She would be dropped off in the capital and hopefully from there she could stay low until she would be able to contact her family and explain what happened. She just didn't want the risk of Jason finding her. "Did Optimus tell you that?" She wasn't angry with him, but she wasn't too thrilled to know that Optimus was speaking about her behind her back.

"No, I was given the information from Captain Lennox. If I'm to give you the best care I need to know what supplies to send you off with. If you're homeless, I can't tell you to fill a prescription when you probably don't even have insurance to cover the cost." Tanner explained in a rush. He seemed a bit flustered. Cathleen reprimanded herself. Optimus wouldn't betray her trust like that. He wasn't the type.

"I assumed you would be giving me some sort of medication then send me on my way. I'm not planning on sticking around when we get to the capital." Cathleen spoke feeling guilt building again. How many people was she going to be indebted to?

"Does Optimus Prime know that?" Tanner had a joking tone to his voice but he stopped laughing seeing Cathleen's confused face. "You were given top priority. The only way you'll get to leave is when Prime say's that we've looked after you properly."

"Optimus isn't in charge of me." She hadn't meant for it to sound as harshly as she had.

"I didn't mean to imply that . . . what I meant was . . ." Tanner took a breath. "He isn't in charge of you, but he is in command of us to some extent. What he says, goes." Tanner smiled at her. "He said to take care of you, so that's what we will do." Cathleen felt her cheeks flush.

"He's too nice." She looked away from Tanner not wanting to talk about Optimus anymore. She owed him a great deal and he was a nice person, but she needed to stop getting attached to people. She was leaving by tomorrow, no matter what Optimus said.

"How are your supplies?" Tanner tried getting Cathleen's attention again.

"Excuse me?" She looked back to the medic having spaced out.

"Your supplies? Do you have enough to get you through the next few days if you're going out on your own?" Tanner was checking the different machines. He was specifically avoiding eye contact with her.

"I can get by." She knew that Tanner was just being helpful and kind, but he was asking too many questions. "Hey, Tanner?"

"Yes?"

"I owe a lot to you and you have every right to ask the questions you are, but please," she paused taking a deep breath. "Let's talk about anything else other than me."

"Deal." Tanner shook her hand with a bright smile. "We'll talk about Prime."

"Tanner." Cathleen groaned realizing that the medic was now making fun of her.

"I give." He held up his hands in surrender. "I'm going to give you something to help you sleep. If the fever can break by the time we get to NEST, I'll feel better with you leaving." Cathleen nodded watching Tanner stick something in her arm.

"Tanner?"

"Yeah?" He spoke calmly and Cathleen let out a yawn. She was already tired and having permission to sleep and a sedative was only pushing the urge forward.

"Is it normal to have hallucinations with a fever?" She asked.

"In some cases, why?" The concern was back in his voice. Cathleen chuckled a bit at herself before she responded.

"Before I hit my head, I thought I saw one of the cars that attacked us transform into a giant robot." She quietly laughed closing her eyes. "Then, Optimus's Peterbilt transformed too. How weird is that?"

"Yeah . . . um . . . get some sleep, Cathleen." Something about Tanner's tone made her want to question him, but the lull of sleep was too tempting.

She could always ask him later.