I realized as I woke that I must have passed out in my shocked state. I sat up slowly, blinking my eyes at the darkness. It was apparently later in the hours of the night. The base was utterly empty, which made my heart flutter in loneliness and fear. I knew I had nothing to really be afraid of now, yet, my body was tense and my mind was filled with horrors. I got up of the couch with hunched shoulders, glancing around. The monitors were on, but were blank, which meant that Ratchet was actually in berth tonight. Feeling chills rise up my body, I rubbed my bare arms with my hands and realized my wrist was wrapped. To the side of the couch, my blue sweatshirt lay. I was dressed in my white undershirt and jeans, and that was all.

A draft of air blew in from somewhere and I jumped, goosebumps rising. My eyes scanned the room frantically as tears of fright started to build into them. I knew I cried a lot, but I couldn't seem to help myself, and the terror that was gripping my chest. Feeling myself grow panicked, I hurried down the stairs, not bothering to grab my sweatshirt. There wasn't anyone there, which made me anxious. Holding my arms still, I rushed down the giant hall. I knew that they kept their berthrooms, but I had no idea where they were. I stopped at each giant door and peeked in, getting embarrassed when it turned it that it wasn't his. It made me feel a little better, knowing everyone was here.

When I found Optimus' berthroom, I nearly squeaked in surprise when I saw he was still awake. He was sitting up on his berth, looking at the wall. He was obviously deep in thought, and luckily he didn't notice me duck away quickly. I wondered what he was thinking about when I finally reached the last door. It was mostly closed, but there was enough of a crack for me to squeeze into.

Of course he would pick the room farthest away from everyone else, I thought with a tiny smile.

As I went in slowly, my eyes struggled to adjust at the darkness of the room. It was even darker here than in the monitor room, and I squinted harder to see. I tiptoed farther in, and when my eyes did adjust I saw him, laying with on his back in his berth. It was hard to make out his facial expression, but he looked relaxed, and I didn't want to wake him. With a sigh, I sat against the wall in silence. As long as I was here, I would be fine, right?

I closed my eyes to try and fall asleep again. As I drifted off, my thoughts took a turn for the worst. I thought about my mom and her death, about what MECH had done to me. About my father. Silas was my father. That horrible man was in my blood. He had practically created me. And created me all over again with his sick ideals. My eyes flew open and I found that I was shaking uncontrollably. I was near the point of crying, tears in my eyes and my lip quivering. My legs shot up and I hurriedly ran closer to Ratchet's berth.

I stopped just in front of it, clutching my arms as I shivered. "Ratchet!" I whispered loudly, afraid of waking anyone else up. When he didn't stir, I stepped closer. "Ratchet!"

My ears picked up a noise, and although it was small, it was enough to send my body into panic. My heart was pounding so hard I thought it would fly out of my chest. I was starting to get light headed and my breathing was fast. My feet were practically dancing, and I went to the bottom of his berth frantically.

"Ratchet!" I cried, louder now because I was afraid. Too afraid, so, so afraid. "Ratchet!!" I shouted again, not caring if I woke anyone else up now. He just had to hear me; I needed it.

Just as I was about to scream his name again, he stirred with a small moan. I relaxed a little when he sat up and looked away, obviously a little confused. When his helm turned to me, he raised an optic ridge and squinted in the dark. He had to register it was me for a second, but once he did he hurriedly got out of his berth and knelt over me.

"Taylor!" he cried silently, his servos reaching for me. "You're awake!"

Relief flooded my chest and I jumped forward and hugged his digits with a muffled cry. He blinked at me again as I sobbed quietly into the warmness of his servos. After a few minutes, his other servo scooped me up gently and he sat back on his berth. He allowed me to fuss for a little while longer. He didn't say anything, and right now, that was exactly what I needed.

After I had sat back and rubbed the tears away, I looked up at him with the best smile I could muster. "How do you feel? You looked exhausted before, and I could tell you were in pain."

His derma twitched upwards in a scoff. "I'm alright, Taylor. I only required rest."

"I bet the others had to force you to go to bed," I said with a small laugh.

He looked away, slightly embarrassed. "I... I did not want to leave you.. You did not look well."

I smiled a little brighter and leaned on his digits. "I'm not in too much pain," I told him quietly. "It was mostly shock.."

His helm nodded and his optics rested on me once more. "I am not surprised. MECH, especially Silas, does not seem like the kind of threat to end so easily."

I shook my head, looking away. "It's not just that..."

"..Do you wish to talk about it?" he asked gently after a pause.

I thought about it for a bit, and decided that it would be better if I did. Talking to him always made me feel better. It used to be that I didn't understand why he made me feel that way, but now I did. It was because I loved him, so, so much. So much it hurt to think about.

"Can I... sleep with you tonight?" I asked quietly. A humongous blush erupted onto my cheeks and I shook my head. "I mean...! I.. I'm really scared, and I don't want to be alone."

Energon flushed from his faceplate as well, but he nodded. Caressing me gently in his grip, he laid back down on his backside. I laid of my stomach on his chest plate, swinging my legs back and forth a little and holding me head in my hands, my elbows resting on his chestplates. He kept his servo close, a few digits still resting on my back for comfort. The cold I had felt earlier was gone. When he relaxed, his bright blue optics fell into my eyes, ready and waiting for whatever I had to say.

I sighed, not able to look away. "You remember Kai?" I asked him, and he nodded. "When I hugged her, she told me something. I couldn't really understand, but for some reason, after you told me about... Silas, it became clear to me." I stopped, trying to choose my next words without crying all over again.

"What did she tell you?" he asked skeptically.

"She said that.. Silas," I said, pausing to take a shaky breath, "...is my father."

I felt him stiffen underneath me. I myself had gotten tense as well. Tears rose to my eyes again but I blinked them back. I had to take a few more shaky breaths before I said anything else. And when I did, I was still on the verge of crying.

"How could he be my dad?" I cried, my voice wavering. "How could my mom be with such a horrible man?" I was sobbing now, wiping my eyes over and over. "Why would he do those things to me if I'm his daughter? He was so horrible to me.. and he didn't care.. and he hurt me, he ruined my life! He ruined my mom's life!"

He said nothing as I ranted on and on, just stroked my back and head soothingly and watched. I went on, afraid, burdened, and stricken with greif. Eventually, my cries went quiet and I hid my face in my hands, sniffing quietly. His digits gently brushed my hair that fell over my face.

"What if..," I said quietly, "what if because I'm his daughter... I'll end up like him, too, someday?" I know it seemed like a stupid question, but it haunted me like nothing had ever done so before. Not even when I had been kidnapped and tortured. I was so terrified that I would turn into a monster someday, too. That I would hurt the people closest to me; make them suffer. I sobbed again and rested my head on his chest chassis. "I'm so scared of it.. I don't want to be like him! I don't want to hurt you all like that!"

For a moment, he was still and said nothing. Then I felt a hand on my shoulder and looked up, tear stains running down my cheeks. His holoform was there, which explained why his chassis had gone slack. I squeaked in surprise as he took my shoulder and forced me up, grasping me into his arms and crushing me into his holoform's chest. My face heated up as he hugged me tightly, his chin resting on the top of my head.

"Taylor," he said firmly. "Do not tell yourself that. You are nothing like Silas, and never will be. You are you, not some monster."

The tears flowed harder, but I was so grateful for his words. I squeezed out another sob and hugged him tightly, my hands grasping his upper back. He let me cry into him again, rubbing my back and saying gentle words that were almost too soft to hear. I heard them, though. Kind words that lifted my heart, words that told me I was fine the way I was. We sat there for a while, hugging each other tightly. It was me who let go first, getting to red and embarrassed to keep hold.

"You... you hugged me," I muttered, not really knowing what else to say as I rubbed my eyes.

His holoform's own cheeks burned a little bit. "I... understand that you humans are comforted by the act of... hugging?" The last part came out as a question, but it was cute to hear him stutter over his own words in confusion.

I giggled. "Yeah. I do feel better, thank you," I said sweetly, still rubbing my eyes.

He smiled, and then his holoform flickered away. I looked over to his faceplate, watching as his optics brighten back into life. When his helm lowered to look at me, his derma lit up into a small, comforting smile. I returned it gently as I turned my body back around and laid on my stomach, facing his faceplate.

"Good," he said, replying to my earlier comment. His optics were warm and kind. I could see in them that he truly cared for me.

My heart did a flip flop and then sunk in my chest. He doesn't adore me the way I adore him.

I ignored my passing thought the best I could and rested my head in my arms, still gazing at my guardian with a smile. I didn't want to relish on that, it would only make me more depressed. I sighed as my eyes began to droop and my body slowly lost its strength to stay awake. I shuffled to get more comfortable on top of him, my mind beginning to lag as well.

"Hey, Ratchet?" I said sleepily, closing my eyes.

"Hmm?" he replied, apparently almost asleep as well. It wasn't a surprise; he had been through a lot in the past few days, too. 

"Will you always stay with me?" I mumbled. "I don't want to ever leave you.."

There was a pause, and it didn't register in my mind that he was thinking about his own home. Like all of them, he was hoping to one day restore his planet and return. However, that didn't seem to be anytime soon. I couldn't see it, but his optics opened from being previously shut and fell onto me. I was beginning to fall into slumber, my breath falling even. I felt warmth fall over my body and smiled at the familiar sense of security as his servo covered me gently.

"I'll stay with you," he told me quietly, and I felt his other servo lift and cover me as well. 

I continued to smile until I fell into a calm, gentle sleep.

Ratchet

The little femme was sleeping soundly on my chest chassis, her back rising and falling steadily under my servos. She was so small, so fragile. Looking at her sent an uncontrollable urge to protect her with my own spark into my chassis. I gently moved my servo up and down to rub her back soothingly. She sighed in her sleep, a smile still playing at her lips. I found that one was also on my own, and nearly sighed to myself. This human... she was so different from the others. She was special to me. I didn't understand why I acted so different around her. Even the way I acted towards Optimus wasn't the same. 

To be honest, I was afraid of leaving her. Not just because I knew that I would miss her, but I was worried that she would turn into someone different. It was proven that she was very emotional fragile, and without the proper care, she could turn into a strange femme. Her entire attitude could change. Just now, she had come to me, crying about what she was afraid to become. If she had been found by anyone else that night... I didn't want to imagine how different she could be.

I had been completely dumbfounded to hear that Silas was her father, and wondered if it was even true. My sire had never been the perfect role model either, but this man... he had done such wretched things to his own daughter. He had the intentions of turning her into a weapon. He hadn't cared for her well being at all. It made me glad that that pitspawn man was gone now.

As I thought about my little Taylor, I felt something tug at my spark. It was the same feeling that I had noticed time and time again ever since she had found me in that room. Like something was drawing me to her.. it was a similar feeling of presence, like one I felt when one of the Autobots was next to me. Was it the fact that she had Energon in her, like I did? No, that couldn't be right, otherwise we both would have noticed before. What was this?

Slowly so not to wake her, I lifted my servo and felt along her body. My medical instincts had taken over, but I was a little embarrassed to feel over her body like that... My digits grazed over her, searching for anything abnormal. I felt a little bump, almost too small for anyone else to notice, along her upper left arm. Raising an optic ridge, I remembered her saying that she had had a scar there since she was a spar-baby. Obviously, we knew now that Silas had probably been the one to put it there. Getting a bit concerned, I gently lifted her arm with one digit, carful not to wake her. Though it was dark, my trained vision could see very clearly that her arm had been reopened in that exact spot. My spark was beginning to beat a little more violently now as I rubbed my lower digit across the scar, feeling for anything else. 

As I rubbed it, the feeling grew stronger and stronger. I found it strange, and then was startled when I saw her scar seem to glow blue just the smallest bit. My mind was sent reeling with shock when I realized why I recognized that feeling. It couldn't be... would he have really gone that far? How would be have even gained that knowledge?

Taylor stirred under my pressing and I slowly rested her arm back down. Now wasn't the time to wake her. Now wasn't the time to tell her. She was already so distraught.. It would have to wait. With a sigh, I covered her again with my servos to ensure she would stay warm. I rested my helm back down, and while my mind was weighing heavily on what I had just discovered, I fell into recharge with my young charge sleeping on top of me.

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What do you think that our Ratchet has discovered, hmmm? ;p

Also, I seem to be writing much longer chapters now! This one was almost 3000 words long! I wonder if all of my chapters will gradually get longer lol.

Thanks for reading you guys!

*waves*