Two more chapters and we're caught up! Then I can finally finish this damn thing! Welcome to act 3(of 4)!

And yes, Rayninja, I totally agree this is a better way to go!

Enjoy guys! Mwah!

War and Peace

…

Everything was a blur. At some point she was pulled from Ironhide's alt form and into an ambulance. Paramedics hovered above her, shining lights into her eyes and snipping away the remains of her tattered dress, asking question after question.

At some point she was placed on a gurney and rolled into a hospital room. She was hooked up to an IV almost immediately. The two doctors that were assessing her discussed about her leg for a moment then nurses came in to wheel her to the x-ray lab. Her leg was bent into uncomfortable positions despite the pain medication, and then she was sent back to her room.

When all was said and done, it was decided that she needed major surgery to correct the bones. Once again, she was wheeled away, this time to the cold operating room flooded with bright lights. A mask was put onto her mouth and nose. She was told to count down from ten. She made it to seven.

When she woke up again, she was in yet another room. Or maybe it was the same one. It was hard to discern. She would have adjusted the blanket, but her arms were too heavy. Her eyes fell closed.

Something pulled up her eyelid and a bright light blinded her. She swatted at the flashlight. Earning an explanation from the doctor. Checking for signs of a concussion, she claimed.

Once Aria was a bit more alert, the doctor told her that the surgery was a success, but there was a chance she may never get full function back in her leg. Not only that, there would be scars too, from the initial injury and one from the incision they had to make.

A little later a nurse came by to help her bathe. She helped Aria get out of her hospital gown and sat her on the showering seat. Dirty water dripped off her and down the drain.

She was wheeled back out to the bed, now donning fresh sheets. The nurse helped her up since the cast on her leg was quite bulky.

Now sitting more upright in bed, she combed her hair with a provided brush, but gave up when the mats proved too stubborn.

"Well look at that, you're alive!"

Aria looked up at the sound of the light hearted voice. There, in the doorway, was the one and only William Lennox. For some reason her eyes began to water. Instead of his uniform, he was wearing a casual jacket and blue jeans. According to her clock, it was nearly midnight.

Her brush fell limply at her side, forgotten. "Colonel Lennox!" She held out her arms to him.

He gave pause for a second before his smile returned and he gave her a hug. She squeezed him, rocking back and forth, nearly causing him to stumble.

"How are the pain meds?" he asked as he let go. He then grabbed a chair and placed it beside her bed.

"My leg doesn't hurt and I just gave you a hug, so they must be working."

Lennox's eyes went from her to the x-rays on the wall. After a quick look he clucked his tongue. "Damn, girl. Lucky you're not losing it."

"I'm practically half Transformer now." She followed his gaze to the post surgery x-ray. Nails held together the once shattered bone. Even on the x-ray, it didn't look good. Who knew what her actual leg looked like. What it would look like from that day on…

"Guess my dress wearing days are over."

He put a hand on her shoulder. "You'll be fine, Aria. I mean, look at me. I've got more scars than I can count, and I still landed a hot wife."

She only bit her lip. It wasn't the same.

The grin dropped from Lennox's face as his posture slouched.

"Do you mind if I ask you about what happened?"

She looked up at him and then back to the bed sheets. "He came out of nowhere. I was sitting outside with—with Wheelie. He told me to run and we got out of the way just in time. Starscream transformed and came after me, but Wheelie distracted him. That's when Ironhide showed up."

"And you had the bright idea of shooting him in the back of the leg with an arrow?"

"Ironhide told you?"

Lennox nodded. "He agrees it wasn't a smart move."

"Starscream was going to kill him! Was I just supposed to watch?"

"Ironhide and I in the opinion that the right thing to do isn't always the smartest. And for that we commend you. Without you, he told me he may not have gained the upper hand."

The image of Ironhide being attacked by Starscream played through her mind like a broken record. Pieces of ebony metal glistening as they flew.

"Is he okay?"

"He's at the base resting up. Ratchet said his Energon levels were extremely low, and the synthetic stuff isn't all that great, but he should be back on his feet in no time."

Low on Energon? Did the fight take that much of a toll on him? Or was he already tired from a previous mission…Or was it—

His Holoform! He'd been constantly using it. To sit with her at the hospital, to watch her shows. How he showed up at her house nearly every day. How he danced with her, how she rested her head on his shoulder as he read Romeo and Juliet.

How he shielded her from the blast.

The blast!

"Wheelie! Did you find him? Sirius? The horses?"

"They're all fine."

Aria let out a breath before he could finish.

"Wheelie's at the base. Your dog's at a kennel for now, and your horses are being sent to a boarding stable."

"What about my neighbours?"

"Only a few minor injuries, no casualties. We got lucky this time."

It was a miracle no one got seriously hurt, but luck still didn't seem like the right word. There was nothing lucky about what happened.

She looked back at him. "Do my parents know yet?"

"There's still some stuff to take care of before we can let them know. Should only be a couple more hours."

"What's the cover story then?"

"Gas line explosion is what they're going with."

"How are they going to explain away Starscream?"

"Lots of paperwork from eye witnesses, media is being told it was a coincidence that an F-22 was headed towards the airport."

"I don't know why you guys bother hiding them. The Decepticons apparently aren't that subtle and the Autobots need more freedom."

Lennox rubbed his temples before speaking. "I know that as well as you do, doesn't mean we can make it happen. It's easy for us to think everything would be better if we did, but the general population won't. We're giving the Autobots all the freedom we can by hiding their existence and offering them refuge."

"In the middle of the city? They're not even allowed to transform off the base. How is that freedom?"

"How do you know that?"

"I—I thought it was always a rule. You let them transform at my place, which was the only exception. When you cut them off, obviously there was nowhere left."

He didn't look convinced. In fact, he leaned back in his chair. "I get it now. Ironhide's been sneaking out to see you."

Damnit. Now what? Who knew what he would do if he found out about her and Ironhide. Think. Think!

"I'm not sure about sneaking out, but I did see him once while I was waiting for my bus. He gave me a ride to the store, but that's it. I haven't seen him since."

"And when was this?"

"I don't know, like a month or two ago?"

"Uh huh." He said slowly. "That wouldn't have anything to do with Ironhide's quick response, would it?"

"What do you mean? I thought Wheelie sent out a message."

"That's the thing. He didn't. He said the initial explosion damaged his transmitter, which Rachet later confirmed. We didn't find out until the explosion was reported."

"Oh."

A nurse knocked on the open door as she entered the room. "And how are we feeling this evening, Miss. Aria? Any pain?"

Aria shook her head. "Nothing at all"

As the nurse came over to check her IV bag, Lennox got up. "I better head out. I'll come pick you up tomorrow."

"All right. Thanks for visiting, Colonel Lennox."

"I thought I told you to call me Will." He rolled his eyes. "See you tomorrow, kid."

"Bye."

What was she going to do now? Lennox was onto her and Ironhide. Her leg was mangled. Her home was gone. Everything. Everything.

The room went dark as the nurse shut the door for the night.

…

Something warm touched her hand. Staticky and not quite solid. A dream or…

Just as her mind began to drift, the warm feeling left. She opened her eyes.

At first everything was dark. Her eyes seemed took forever to adjust before she could make out a figure near the door.

She rubbed her eyes while she sat up. Was it a nurse checking on her? The figure had a clipboard in their hands, most likely the one that hung on the base of her bed. Her movement caught their attention. When they turned their head, the light from the window illuminated half of their features.

"I didn't mean to wake you."

"Ironhide! You're here!"

If she could, she would have jumped into his arms.

He looked back down to her charts, his face once again hidden from the light. "I wanted to make sure you're all right. I can't stay for long."

His neutral tone contrasted from her elated one. She reached over and turned on the lamp. He seemed…fuzzy. And not because of her poor vision.

She tilted her head. "Ironhide?"

Between his hazy appearance and lack of emotion, something was off. He must have been exhausted, still injured. And here he was, using excess energy that he could be using to heal.

"You're crying."

Aria wiped away a tear from her cheek. Ironhide placed the clipboard back, coming to her side. Instead of sitting on the chair Lennox had pulled over earlier, he sat on her bed.

She sniffed. "I'm just worried about you."

Confusion overtook his features. "Worried about…me?"

"You're tired and hurt. I know I'm not supposed to know, but your holoform takes up a lot of your energy. Energy you don't have to spare right now."

Warm arms wrapped around her form, engulfing her in his embrace.

"I was supposed to protect you," his voice was muffled by her hair.

She placed her arms around Ironhide's waist. He needed her support as much as she needed his, even if he would never admit it.

"You didn't fail, Ironhide. You came as soon as you could."

Never in a thousand years did Aria imagine herself comforting the Autobot. He was always so powerful, so strong willed. He had done so much for her, this was the least she could do in return.

"How can you say that? I let you down when you needed me most." He leaned back away from her, still holding onto her forearms. "Seeing you like this, I—" he faltered. "I should have been there, I should've convinced Optimus to make me your guardian. None of this would have happened."

"Ironhide—" Aria attempted to reason but was cut off.

"Do you know how hard it was, Aria? How hard it was to watch Starscream attack you and not be able to do anything about it?"

He looked visibly upset now, pain and anger etched into his face, his hands on her arms now gripping her firmly as if to keep her there, even as his holoform flickered.

She placed a hand on top of his. "What happened, happened. There's nothing we can do about it. But it's over now, and we're both safe and together again."

"You could have died. I told you to run, and you didn't."

"I tried, before you got there. And when you did, there was no way I was going to leave you, not when you needed me."

"Starscream would have killed you when he got a chance."

She leaned forward and hugged him. "Well I wasn't about to let him kill you either."

Instead of answering, he returned her embrace. It was difficult to tell if the fuzzy feeling was from his holoform or from within her own body, but either way, it was nice.

After what felt like minutes, she let go of him. Despite the tiredness reflected on his hazy features, his eyes flickered over her face, probably examining the severity of all the minor scratches and bruises on her forehead and cheeks.

"What, admiring my rugged good looks?

She was met with his fond smile. He brought his hand up to her cheek, caressing it with his thumb. "I've already got that category covered, punk." His fingers slid back into her hair, where they caught almost immediately. "Despite your best efforts."

Aria absently brought her hand up to sooth the stray strands. Oh yes, she forgot about her attempt to brush it.

"What you don't like it?"

She riffled through the messy sheets until she came across the abandoned hair brush. She brought all her hair to the front and started to brush it again. Almost immediately the brush got stuck. She pulled at it, trying to maneuver it out to no avail. This was its home now. In her hair. Forever.

She let out a frustrated sigh and rested her head on her hand. Her eyes met Ironhide's lopsided grin, half amused, half sympathetic. When did he get so good at making human expressions?

"I prefer it when you're not injured." He reached for the brush. "Would you like some help?"

"Help…brush my hair?"

Ironhide rolled his eyes with a smile. Something he surely learned from her. He got up and repositioned himself right at her side.

With a careful touch, he began untangling the brush from her unruly mess of hair. Unsure of what else to do, Aria picked at the sheets. Was this really happening?

Ironhide managed to get the brush unstuck. He examined it closely, then took some of her hair in his other hand and began to brush it.

"Such a strange thing, hair," he commented.

"Yeah, it's a hassle."

Silence fell over them. The only sound in the dimly lit room was the sound of the brush working its way through the knots in her hair. He took his time, making the process as pain free as he could.

Her eyes drifted shut. She could let the moment go on forever, but the air grew heavy with words unspoken.

"I know about the Energon detectors. I asked Wheelie a while ago." She opened her eyes. "You were acting strange and I figured whatever you guys were talking about that day was part of it. He told me about the possibility of a Decepticon that could track you down, even if you used your holoform. How you knew that being with me was either making me a target or the only thing keeping them away."

The brush paused in her hair mid stroke. Ironhide's focus shifted to her face, and then away. She continued before he got the chance to speak.

"I figured they had nothing to gain by attacking me. Just some girl that happens to have a couple of Autobot friends. I know next to nothing about what you guys do, what missions you go on, what plans you make… So why was I a target? I don't have anything worth any value to them."

"Your value to them is your value to me. Decepticons are petty, and they know exactly how to attack in the way that hurts most. I shouldn't have underestimated them. We thought all the Perseptors were gone, but they have proved otherwise, and you paid the price for it."

The brush clattered to the floor. Ironhide held out his hand, translucent and tinted blue, like the rest of his arm. His fingers tightened into a fist and the color went back to normal.

"I've only met a few humans, and gotten to know even fewer. The soldiers at the base are like us; hardened by years of training and war. Scientists only care about our weapons and technology. Officers only give a damn if we cause trouble. To many of them, we are nothing more than assets that make their lives more difficult, and though I agree that we do, I don't appreciate their attitude. We followed all their rules for years and nothing came of it. Mission after mission, following human's commands and failing because they don't listen. We're nothing but weapons to them.

"But then you appeared. A human unlike any other I've met. Carefree and loving, unaffected by war and suffering and death. I wanted to experience it too, and by doing so, I let my guard down. I could have prevented all of this from happening, but I let you in. I was selfish and let my curiosity get the better of me. I brought this upon you, so it was my duty to protect you."

It hurt to hear him blame himself for letting her into a life filled with danger. It was a risk she took. At first, for some adventure. How could anyone not? But then it became clear what she could offer them. A place to go to get away from it all. To be themselves without the threat of getting into trouble for it.

Ironhide appreciated it most of all; he came by the most, he stayed the longest. He stopped talking about the war.

"You know I wouldn't have given up if you didn't stop for me. I would have tried over and over to see you guys again. And besides, it was my curiosity that started it all, you know that." She put her hands on either side of his face, "I don't know if I ever told you this; but if I had to, I'd do it all again, if it meant meeting you."

His eyes were bluer than ever as he looked at her. He put his hand over hers. "And I promise I wouldn't scare you the next time."

…