What's up? I can't apologize enough for how long this took. Essentially, crap hit the fan and I'm still struggling to deal with everything. Most of you know I usually post outfits and stuff on Polyvore, but that isn't going to happen anymore as the website was sold. It was shut down, so there will be no more outfits posted and I will do my best to describe everything better from now on. Shout out to Amber Julien for favoriting my story! Continue with the story!

Legend: Speaking in thoughts to wolves or Edward

Thinking

Emphasis on a thought/word

**** swear words

"Comm"

Text Message

Disclaimer: I don't own anything Transformers or Twilight, all I own is Katherine, students that were hurt/died in the attack, and the plot.

Crap happens.

I looked down at my lap and sighed before looking back up at the laptop as I softly answered Epps, "Probably never. Kids are jerks no matter where ya go. I was handling it."

He scoffed, "We have your messages, Katherine. We know they've been telling you to kill yourself."

Wincing, I hid my face as he hesitated over his next question, "You haven't been thinking of doing that, have you?"

A shrug answered him at first until I took a deep breath and spoke, "Not really. When my dad first disappeared, I figured he was dead and that I couldn't live without him. But I don't think like that anymore. I couldn't do that to you guys. I just ignore the kids at school and hang out with the Cullens and Bella."

They all took turns lecturing me before it became quiet for Optimus to speak, "Katherine, what would you like us to do in order to help you? Tell us what you need."

I felt tears prick my eyes at his warm tone, "I don't know, OP. It's just hard up here. Bella has all of the Cullens and the wolves and her dad. I've only got Mia and she's awesome, but it's not the same. I miss everyone and I feel alone up here."

"Would you like one of us to call every day and talk with you for a little bit? Would that help you at all or do you want to come back?"

I rubbed the tears from my eyes as I answered, "It's too dangerous for me there. They won't rest if they get wind I'm back in California, but it would be nice to talk to you guys more. That would help."

I chuckled a bit at his solemn nod, "Then we shall do that. How are your injuries?"

Mia moved my laptop from my lap to the table and crouched down to attend to my knees as I shifted the ice to cover my eye better, "I'll be fine. Knees will sting for a while, but my eye doesn't hurt that much. I won't be able to really play music until my knuckles heal up."

Ratchet kind of pushed his way to the front of the screen as he began talking to my femme guardian, "Make sure you clean and sterilize those wounds, Chromia. I also need you to do a deep scan of her shoulder and her leg to make sure she didn't do more damage to them. They're already strained from her trying to do too much too fast."

I rolled my eyes at the CMO, but didn't comment because I had no desire to get hit by his wrench the next time I see him. I chatted with them for a little longer before they had duties to attend to, so I was left with just Mia. She eventually finished as I got a text from Jake asking if I could come to the reservation. I agreed and was quickly on my way up to his house to see what was going on.

Nobody was outside to greet me, so I left my helmet on Mia's alt form and headed inside while she decided to recharge a bit. I knocked once and heard yells for me to come in. Smiling at their antics, I entered the cozy house and waved slightly at Emily, who was the only one looking at me, "Hey, everyone."

Her eyes widened in shock at the sight of me, "Katherine, who hit you?"

The boys all whipped around to stare at me at Emily's cry and I was surprised to see tremors shaking some of the newer wolves. Uley strode forward until his large hand could gently trace the bruise around my eye before his eyes looked at my hands and knees, "What happened, sororis?"

A small smile crossed my lips at the endearing term from the pack leader before I shrugged nonchalantly, "Got in a fight with two boys from school. They've got detention for a couple weeks and I'm free to go. But we're all suspended if we get in another fight." I could see them all stiffening up and Paul started to storm out the door, but I latched onto his arm, "Don't, guys. I'm okay, really. I did more damage to their pride and that'll hurt them more. So why'd you guys call me out here?"

All the males looked to Uley for his direction and they all relaxed slightly when he let the tension leave his body, "All of us thought it would be good for us all to bond more since we haven't been able to do much of that."

I nodded and took a seat at the table while the others kind of flopped wherever they could and I grabbed some potato chips out of the bag in front of me. It was fun hanging out with the guys and just relaxing. It was good to just let go of all my stress. Bella started texting me as the sun began setting, so I started to get ready to leave, "I'll see you guys later. Bella wants me to go to the doctor and get everything cleaned properly. Bye!"

They all gave their own form of farewells as I hopped onto Mia's alt form to drive to the Cullen's house. Once there, she formed her holoform and escorted me in to find Bella waiting for me. I raised an eyebrow at her folded arms and glare on her face, "What took you so long, Kat? You should have come as soon as we finished school."

Exasperation filled me at the beginning of her lecture and I stood there for a while ignoring it. I eventually tuned in when she seemed to be winding down, "I know you're upset about your parents, but that's no reason to be acting so childish and reckless! What are you even trying to accomplish? Die and see your mom again?"

Red hot anger burned through my veins as her eyes widened in shock at what she said. The skin stretched over my knuckles as my fists shook by my side. I could feel the heat of my glare trying to burn her to dust for her comment and I hissed at her, "Don't. You. Dare. Don't you ******* dare say that to me, Isabella. You have no ******* idea what it feels like to lose a parent. Your parents may be divorced, but at least you still have both of them. And if you think I would seriously dishonor my mother, who died from a stupid accident because I wasn't there, then you don't know me. So shut the frag up or I'll make you."

I turned away and shoved past people to escape the suddenly claustrophobic house. Barely wasting time in shoving my helmet on, I leaped onto Chromia's alt and relied on her to get us back to my uncle's house because I couldn't see through the water filling my eyes. Uncle Charlie shouted in surprise when I burst through the door and ran straight to my room. I slammed the door shut before collapsing back against it as my body shook from suppressing the sobs. The faint hum of a holoform forming caused me to look up and I lost my control when I saw Mia standing before me.

She wrapped her arms tight around me and pulled me into her lap as the dam broke. The salty tears made tracks down my cheeks and my bruised fingers tightened on Mia's shirt as she rocked me. I think I may have punched her once or twice in anger at everything that had happened, but I wasn't sure because I pretty much lost all control over myself. I was finally letting go of everything that had been building and I felt lighter once I was done. After I stopped crying, I curled closer to Mia as I tried to catch my breath and ease the painful tightness of my chest from the sobs.

I occasionally hiccuped in my desperation for air, but it finally stopped in time for me to hear the knock on my door, "Kat? It's me, Bella. Can...can I come in?" Turning my face into Mia, I didn't bother answering my cousin as she tried a couple more times to get me to respond. She left after I ignored her for a while. I stayed in Mia's embrace for a while before she disappeared to recharge and let her nannites heal her more.

I changed into my Batman pajama pants and a black tank-top before slowly climbing into bed. I laid on my side and clutched a pillow to me as my eyes just blankly roamed the wall across from me. I was exhausted from all of the emotions, but I was still in a whirlwind and I couldn't pick one to focus on. Realizing I needed help, I forced myself to shakily dial Prime's number, "Katherine, I was hoping you would call. Chromia informed us of what happened. Do you need to talk?"

I was surprised when tears pricked my eyes once more at the concern in his voice, "Yeah, I need to. I just don't know where to start, Optimus."

His warm chuckle echoed down the line to me, "The beginning is usually a good place, Katherine," I found myself letting out a watery giggle at his joke, "Tell me what happened in your words."

My breath hitched again as I remembered Bella's cold words and I held the pillow tighter, "I don't even know what the beginning is. I went to hang out with the wolves after talking with you guys and it was fun. Been a while since I've been able to just relax and goof off, so I was feeling pretty good. Bella had me go to the Cullen's house cause she wanted Carlisle to check all my injuries, but she started off lecturing me. I kinda tuned her out for the most part. I didn't think much of it since I hadn't told her Ratchet and Mia had made sure I was okay. When I figured out she was almost done, I tuned back in and that's when she made the comments about me doing stupid things and wanted to die, so I could see my mom again. So I kinda blew up at her."

Optimus was silent for a second after I had spoken as he processed my words, "How did her comments make you feel?"

Going back in my mind, I softly responded, "I was so angry at first. I couldn't believe that she thought I was purposefully doing stupid slag to kill myself. Or that I would do that to my mom's memory. It hurt that she could just say those things because she must have been thinking about it before she said that. And part of me feels so guilty about my mom's death cause it wouldn't have happened if I was there. She wouldn't have been walking down the stairs with the laundry and I could have prevented her death."

I could hear his sorrow dripping from his voice when he spoke next, "Sweetspark, your mother's death was not your fault. There was nothing you could do to prevent it. It was the will of Primus and it could have happened if you were there. You need to let go of that guilt before it kills you, Katherine. How long have you been bottling all of these feelings up?"

My shoulders rose up in a shrug before it dawned on me that he couldn't see me, "Since I came back to Forks after the funeral. Didn't want to bug anyone about it, so I figured I'd handle it on my own. I know I shouldn't have, but I couldn't help it. Then everything happened with my dad and I didn't want to distract you guys from finding him."

We talked for another hour until I couldn't stop yawning. He convinced me to go get some sleep and we both hung up before I just laid in bed. I kept tossing and turning as I tried to find a comfortable position. My knees hurt enough that I couldn't lay on my stomach, which sucks since I fall asleep easier in that position. Groaning, I eventually gave in and flipped onto my front. However, I bent my legs enough to keep the majority of my knees from resting on the bed and I gratefully sank into the blackness of sleep.

THIRD P.O.V.

Optimus ended the call with Katherine and sighed with a heavy feeling in his spark, "You coming to recharge soon, my love?" His electric optic rose to meet those of his sparkmate as she stood in the door of his office, but she came closer at the pained expression he wore, "What's wrong? Did something happen?"

He pulled her close as he explained what Katherine had told him. She had given him permission to discuss their meetings with his sparkmate some time ago due to how stressful and difficult it is to keep secrets from sparkmates due to the bond. "She has obviously been feeling like we blame her and that she could have changed everything had she been here. However, I don't believe she will believe us. I believe she needs to hear it from Will, but that is impossible until we find him. We all need to talk to her when we can and help her. I'll discuss with Sam and see if he could find time to go see her."

Elita-One hugged her sparkmate close with a loving warmth passing through their bond, "We will find Will and we can help Katherine. It will just take a little bit of time, so please do not stress yourself over these things. My sister and I managed to place a tracker on Starscream before he left and he has no idea. It is only a matter of time before he leads us to where they are holding Will and then we can rescue him."

Optimus nodded and stood to follow her back to their room to retire for the night. He prayed to Primus that it wouldn't be long until he could reunite the father and daughter. He only hoped they weren't too late rescuing the human male.