Ratchet could feel Omega's curious gaze from behind him, sending an annoyed tingle down his backstrut. She was watching him work with wide optics, and while she was remaining silent, her stares were so hard he could almost see the expression on her faceplate. He sighed and took his servos from the console.

"Omega," he groaned. "Must you watch the entire time?"

The young femme started when he spoke to her, blinking. "Uh, sorry. Is it bothering you?"

"Yes," he muttered.

"Sorry," she apologized.

"Stop that."

"S-" she started before slapping her servo over her mouth.

Ratchet sighed again and returned to his work. He was mostly frustrated with how long the task at hand was taking. It was a lot harder than he had expected it to be. While the monitor was now functioning much better, its higher functions were still damaged. He was struggling to get them back online, so that he could at least gain some access to the Groundbridge they had on ship. The process had so far taken an entirety of two days without pause, and the work was barely done.

The medic groaned and rubbed his faceplate tiredly. On top of that, he was still struggling with his own damages. While he was healing better now, his systems were slower and weaker than previously, and occasionally his chassis would ache. Not to mention the nightmares he had been experiencing. The same nightmare had been playing over and over in his head, even though he hadn't recharged in the two days he had been working.

"Maybe you should take a break," Omega said gently, suddenly next to him. She glanced down at his servos, worry gleaming in her optics.

A bit confused, he looked down to where her gaze was cast. He found that while he was typing, his servos were shaking slightly. He froze, glaring at them, but when he stopped they started shaking harder. He hadn't even realized.

"I.. I'm not sure if I should," he said with a sigh, glancing back up at the screen. He seemed so close, but at the same time so, so far away. "Who knows what could happen to my progress.. there is always the possibility the information could delete itself.."

Omega giggled and took his servos, pulling them away from the monitor. "I'll save it. I can keep an optic on it, too, if you want," she offered with a smile. 

Ratchet felt his optics begin to droop at the mention of rest, but forced them back open. "I... have to finish."

She sighed. "I know a lot of things depend on this information, Ratchet," she told him, using his name for the first time. Still gripping his servos, she pulled them up to a little and rubbed the digits gently. "But.. I'm more concerned for your health."

He blinked, surprised. Why would a young femme who barely knew him be so worried about him? 

"You were so badly injured when we found you, and we were afraid we couldn't save you," she explained, her voice raising a bit. "You weren't responsive for a week, but there wasn't anything else we could do without hurting you-"

"A week?!" Ratchet cried. This was the first he had heard of it. So much time had passed; the Autobots could be injured, or worse..

Omega cocked her head to the side a little. "We didn't tell you?"

Ratchet pulled one of his servos away and brought it to his faceplate, groaning. "This was the first I was made aware of it." He felt his knees begin to rattle and cursed at himself.

The femme, this time, was not gentle, but instead pouted and tugged his servo, forcing him to take a few shaky steps away from the console. "If you won't listen to me, I'll drag you!"

"You're doing what?" Alpha cued amusedly, leaning on the doorframe with arms crossed over his chest chassis.

The two bots jumped at his sudden presence. Omega flushed slightly in embarrassment, but didn't let go. She narrowed her optics as she turned back to the confused medic. 

"I'm taking him to get some rest!" she said in a commanding tone, which didn't seem to suit her usual apologetic manner. "He hasn't gotten any in two days!"

Alpha snickered at her, striding over to the two. The taller mech put a servo on the doctor's shoulder plate. "You might as well listen to her," he told him. "She's in that mood where she won't take 'no' for an answer."

Ratchet blinked, before giving a tired and exasperated sigh. "Fine. As long as you two watch the data, and make sure you don't touch anything unless necessary."

Omega immediately beamed, quickly erasing her angry demeanor. She pulled on Ratchet's servo again as she looked to her brother. "Alpha, watch the data!"

Ratchet sighed, stumbling as she forcefully dragged him out of the room and through the hall. Truthfully, he was tired, but he was also getting impatient. He still had no clue about what had happened to him or what could have become with the others, his only clue being the scary dreams that were all but true. He didn't want to stop; he had to find a way to get back home soon.

Home, he though with a grim smile. Mere months ago, he would have been appalled to call this strange planet his home. The base, to him, had merely been one of many tools to help fight the war, only that. The human children were pests that had kept shoving themselves into danger and annoyed him. Now, he was anxious to get back and see them again. He wanted so badly  to know if they were okay. 

Not knowing made him frustrated. The nightmares made him fearful.

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Optimus sighed again, resting his servos on the console in defeat. He had tried in desperate hopes to get a location on the Nemesis, but the search was proving it nearly impossible. If anything, he was even more unsure than when he had started. The other Autobots all gave him looks of concern; their leader had been sighing a lot more often. While he still seemed to be as steely and calm as ever, there were some times where he was be distracted, or even looked upset. Bumblebee, too, was beginning to get frantic, scared that they would never know what had happened to their friend.

Suddenly, the monitor beeped, and a familiar voice entered the room. "You all still online over there?"

Bulkhead, who had been sitting on the medical berth for no apparent reason, perked up when he heard the casual yet teasing tone. "Jackie!" he exclaimed happily, getting to his pedes.

"Good to hear your voice, Bulk," the Wrecker said, sounding unusually relieved. "The rest of ya still ticking?"

"Arcee, Bumblebee, Bulkhead, and myself are all accounted for, as well as the children," Optimus assured him, before a thought crossed his processor. "Did you find something?"

Wheeljack paused, and for a moment the Prime was worried that the line had gone dead. "You could say that," he sighed after a moment. 

"What is it?" Bulkhead asked curiously, his optic ridges raised.

Wheeljack was silent again. "Did you guys have a scuffle uncomfortably close to your base or something?" the Wrecker asked tentatively.  

The Autobots all shared a look of confusion. "No, we have not, Wheeljack," Optimus answered. "Why?"

"Cus I found a ton of spilled Energon a few miles out of Jasper, and a lot of evidence of a 'Con scuffle," Wheeljack said grimly. "I was making my way back there 'cus my ship got wrecked again, and was hoping the doc could fox it, when I found the site. It looks pretty bad."

Dread filled the Autobots' sparks. They each looked to each other, optics wide with terror. The children, who had been playing video games, were frozen with similar expressions, the game forgotten. Raf's eyes began to water and he sniffed.

There was sound from the other end of the line, indicating that Wheeljack had transformed and was heading their way. "...I didn't hear ya mention Ratchet in that count, earlier," he noted, a grim edge to his voice.

Optimus' expression turned dark and saddened, the worse the Autobots had seen yet. "You heard correct," he said after yet another sigh. "Ratchet has been missing for two weeks now. We have not found any evidence to what could have happened to him."

"Until now," Arcee muttered, looking down to her pedes.

The Wrecker was silent, surprised at how depressed the Prime had sounded. He was a little glad he couldn't see the Autobot leader at that time. "I'm on my way," he said simply, before cutting the transmission.

Optimus no longer wanted to continue his search, feeling sick to his stomach. He shut down his progress (which couldn't really be called progress), turned on one pede, and stalked out of the room, his faceplate dark. The rest of the team watched him with worry, their own faceplates twisted in concern. Raf, who had dropped his game controller, ran down the stairs and raced over to his guardian, hugging his pede tightly as he began to sob. Bumblebee's own optics were filled with fear and worry for his older friend as he knelt down and gently placed a digit on the boy's back. The other Autobots each looked at their own charges, all sharing the same faces. Miko looked ready to cry as well, while Jack was shaking slightly. The teenage boy stood and turned to Miko, who was standing still at the rails.

"He'll be okay," he told her, telling himself to remain strong. "Ratchet's tough."

Miko looked at him, tears in her eyes, and nodded. She didn't want to verbally admit it, but she was extremely scared for the old medic, even if they hardly ever seemed to get along. She knew that he secretly was getting fond of the humans, and she in turn was warming up to him. She sniffed and hesitantly went over to Jack, before wrapping her arms around him quickly.

Jack blushed harshly, but returned the hug. "I think the stress is getting to all of us. We don't know if he's been... offlined," he said, saying the last word with care.

Rafael looked up from hugging Bumblebee's pede, eyes puffy and red. "You're right," he sniffled, his voice shaky. "We have to believe in him."

Jack smiled down at the younger boy. He knew this was especially hard on him, not only because he was younger and more fearful than the older two. He was close to Ratchet, and Ratchet seemed to like him the most out of the three children. Jack had often caught them conversing to each other, talking about different things as if they were old friends.

Arcee shot her charge a smile. "I will contact Agent Fowler, see if he's come up with anything."

Bumblebee whirred something to Raf, holding out a servo for him to climb onto. The boy did, and his guardian raised him and placed him on his shoulder plate, giving him a smile. Raf returned it feebly as Bumblebee turned and walked out, beginning to talk to his charge.

"Hey, Miko, you want to go out and meet up with Wheeljack?" Bulkhead asked, looking over to the girl hopefully.

Miko shyly let go of Jack. "Sure," she said cheerfully after a moment, before turning again to Jack. "Thanks!" She shot him a big smile, punched his shoulder, and ran over to the olive green bot. Jack blushed again, smiling and turning on one foot.

He raised his head, looking up as he thought about the Autobot doctor. The medic had seemed to despise the humans previously, and Jack in turn had felt a little bitter towards him. As time had passed, however, he had begun to trust Ratchet, and the medic had seemed to relent a bit. They eventually saw each other as mutual friends, though Ratchet would probably have a hard time admitting that. Jack smiled upon the memory of Ratchet saving him from Knockout's wrath back on the Nemesis. Despite the medic's words, Ratchet did care, and Jack had grown to as well. 

The boy sighed and walked over to where Arcee was talking with Agent Fowler.

Optimus must be having a really hard time, he thought. He and Ratchet have been friends since before the war. Those two are really close.

Jack leaned on the railing, a little disappointed when he heard that Agent Fowler had still come up with nothing.

I hope we find him soon.

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Hey, look who finally posted!! I know I haven't updated this book in a while. I'm really sorry. 

I really want to thank @multifandom-doctor so, so, so, so MUCH!! What you said was reallu encouraging to me, and I'm so grateful for what you did.

I hope you guys still are reading this story! I hope it hasn't gotten boring...