Faria shivered in the corner as her father approached her with a whip. "Stand", he growled. She does so, and he grabs her shoulder and turns her back. Faria braced herself but still let out a yelp of pain as the whip came crashing down on her back. 

One...

Two...

Three....

...

...

...

Twenty-four...

Twenty-five...

BANG BANG BANG

Faria's eyes widened, tears spilling from her eyes. That was the front door... Almost no one ever came here. In the month she had been here, the only people who had come here were family friends that only came over every other week. And they had just been here yesterday, so who could it be...? Her father growls lightly.

"Clean yourself, and this room up Achelois." 

Faria nodded. "Yes, Father."

As soon as he left the room, she ran to the window to see a familiar African-american man waiting outside. Agent Fowler. Her eyes widened as she searched the roadside. A familiar semi-truck was waiting outside. Tears started leaking out of her eyes faster as her chest was filled with hope. She heard the front door open, and peeked out of her room to see that the hallway was clear. She hurried down to the end of the hall, and peeked around the corner to see both her mother and father standing by the door.

"Is there a woman by the name of Achelois Sullivan here?" Agent Fowler asked. Faria froze... How did he know her real name...?

*a few days earlier*

"By her parents?" Agent Fowler asked incredulously. "Are you sure they weren't just picking her up to visit?"

Ratchet glared at Agent Fowler. "Oh, sure, she's totally going to visit them after they injected with something via a needle that made her pass out and then put her in their car and drive away", he snapped. The entire room was silent as everyone took in this information. 

Agent Fowler sighed. "I'll see what I can find. Her name was Faria Weaver, right?"

Ratchet shook his head. "You won't find anything if you search for Faria Weaver... It's a pseudonym... Her real name is..." Ratchet hesitates as he thinks to himself. 'She told me that in confidence... But agent Fowler is going to need it if he's going to find her. Primus, I hope she forgives me...' Ratchet sighs as he looks at the ground. "Her name is Achelois Sullivan."

Fowler nods, and leaves, writing something down in a notebook. Ratchet sighed again and went to the medbay and sat on the floor, leaning against the wall. He looked up at the ceiling and tried to ignore his raging spark. He needed her near him... He needed to know she was okay. Ratchet sighed when he heard someone walking over to him. He looked to see Optimus.

"Are you alright, old friend?" Optimus asked. Ratchet shook his head.

"I'm not, Optimus... I'm really not... I want to be out there, looking for her myself, but I'm needed here... I need to make sure she's okay, Optimus, and I can't do that just yet... Primus, I miss her..."

Optimus smiled softly as he sat beside his friend. "You love her, don't you?"

Ratchet smiles sadly... "I do... but I made a mistake..."

Optimus tilted his head. "And what was that mistake?"

"She... she confessed that she loves me. That's... That's why she's been avoiding me... because I broke her heart... I... I didn't want to... but it never would have worked... and now... now I've lost her... She's been missing for almost a month. I tried to find her myself... But I failed because I don't have access to things Fowler does... I can only hope he finds her..."

Optimus smiled softly and rested a servo on his friends shoulder. "Agent Fowler will do everything in his power to bring her back."

*Present Day*

"There is no one by the name of Achelois Sullivan in this household", Faria's father spoke.

"Mind if we search the house then?" Agent Fowler asked. Her father shook his head.

"Go for it. You won't find anyone other than us", Julian Sullivan said as he moved out of the way to stand next to his wife. Agent Fowler, and a couple unfamiliar men stepped inside. Fowler instantly went for the hallway that Faria was currently hiding in. She waited for him, not wanting to move because she didn't want to aggravate her back. Agent Fowler found her and smiled softly.

"Good to see you, Faria", he murmured. "Everyone's been worried about you, especially Ratch."

Faria frowned as she thought about her guardian. "Are... are you going to take me back to base?"

Agent Fowler nodded, trying to lead her over to the door, only to stop when she winced. "Faria, are you okay?"

Faria nodded. "Yeah... It's just my limp is acting up."

"Achelois, dear, why don't you tell these men how we've been taking good care of you", her mother purred as she strolled around the corner. Faria glared at her mother.

"You call emotionally, mentally, and physically abusing your own daughter good care?" Faria snapped. Agent Fowler stiffened, and looked to Faria's parents.

"You abused her?" he asked. Faria's mother tried to backtrack.

"No, no", she said. "We just needed to teach her lessons for when she disobeyed us."

Faria cried out. "You call whipping me, beating me, making you do your every bidding 'teaching me a lesson'?!"

BANG!

Maniacal laughter filled the room. Faria stumbled a bit, keeling over slightly as she reaches her hand up to her abdomen. Blood flowed from a new wound. Faria looked up at her father as tears began to flow from her eyes. Her father held a gun and he was the one the laughter came from. Faria stumbled again, before falling to her knees. Agent Fowler's eyes widened.

"Get her to the truck, now!" he cried out. One of the men picked Faria up as the other two cuffed her parents. The one holding Faria quickly rushed her out to the semi-truck, where another blue haired man was waiting for her. His eyes widen when he sees her condition. He looks at the young man who brought Faria.

"Go help Agent Fowler. I will take care of Faria", he murmured, placing Faria in passenger seat. Faria was gasping for air as blood began to fill her lungs. She coughed up a bit of blood and Optimus instantly called Ratchet for a ground bridge.

As soon as they were through, Optimus' holoform appeared and helped Faria out. "Ratchet, get her to a hospital!"

Ratchet looked down at Faria and his optics widened. He transformed and Optimus put Faria in the back of the ambulance on the bed. His holoform then disappeared, and he transformed, opening a ground bridge close to the hospital. Ratchet was quick to drive through with his sirens on, and he quickly made his way to the hospital. His holoform activated as soon as he was there, and he instantly got Faria out of the back of his alternate form and into the hospital. Nurses were instantly flooding around him, including Nurse Darby and they placed her on a hospital bed and rushed her down to the ICU. Ratchet was left standing there, scared for Faria's life. All he could do was pray to Primus that she would be okay. Ratchet was about to leave, but a nurse stopped him. 

"Do you want to stay with your girlfriend?" she asked. Ratchet looked at her in surprise.

"She's not my girlfriend", he murmured, albeit a bit sadly. "Though I do love her..."

The nurse smiled. "Follow me."

Ratchet followed her, and she led him to the ICU, where he had to wait outside a room while the doctor's and nurses tended to her. He sat in a chair with his head in his hands before his phone started to vibrate. He looked at the caller ID and saw that it was Dahlia. He answered it.

"Is Faria alright?" she immediately asked. Ratchet smiled tiredly.

"I hope so... She's currently in the ICU. I think they're doing surgery to get the bullet out..." Ratchet murmured.

"Are you there with her?" 

"I'm waiting outside the room. I can't go in just yet."

"Do you plan on staying there?"

Ratchet sighed. "I... I don't know if I can handle seeing her like this. But if I need to, I will stay."

Dahlia huffed in response. "Well, she loves you and you love her, so you better stay."

Ratchet chuckles. "We'll see."

Dahlia and Ratchet talked for a few more minutes, before Dahlia had to go. Ratchet sat there in silence and ended up dozing a bit before they finally came out. Nurse Darby gently woke him up.

"You can go in to see her if you want. She's in a medically induced coma right now, so she may not be able to hear you. But you're still welcome to speak to her."

Ratchet nods and enters the room, where he sees her laying in pristine white sheets and a light green hospital gown. Ratchet sighs softly and gently grabs her hand. In his holoform, he was able to cry, and soon he felt tears slipping down his face. Eventually, he was sobbing as he held her hand up to his face.

"Oh, Faria... please be okay... I don't know what I'll do without you... I don't want to lose you... please, please, survive this... You're strong... you have to survive this..."

There was a quiet knock on the door, and Ratchet turned to see Optimus' holoform and Dahlia.

"How is she?" Optimus murmured as he closes the door behind him. "She's... in a medically induced coma..."

Dahlia grabbed her friends other hand, the one that hadn't been claimed by Ratchet. Ratchet sighed softly... "I... I don't think I can see Faria like this... Give me any updates..."

Ratchet stood and went to leave but was stopped by Optimus. "Be careful, Ratchet." Ratchet nodded in response and left. Optimus sighed and turned to Dahlia.

"He's not going to listen to you, is he?" Dahlia asked with a sad smile as she watcher friends face. Optimus smiles sadly.

"I don't think he will", Optimus says as he walks over to Dahlia's side. She grabs his hand and looks up at him.

"Let's hope nothing ever happens to us, like what's happening with Ratchet and Faria." Optimus smiled softly and gently kissed her forehead.

"Indeed."