A small hand touched Ratchet's cheek that morning, making him stir slightly, but not wake. Jennie stood next to his helm, observing his face, a small smile on her lips. "Ratch...?" She asked softly, tilting her head a little when he woke with a small huff. His optics opened and focused on her, with a hint of surprise. "Good morning!" Jennie said cheerfully, backing up so he could move without crushing her. That wouldn't be fun. Ratchet sat up, yawning and stretching.

"Good morning," he answered with a nod, "What time is it?"

"Dunno. But," her gaze lightened, an excited look coming to her face. "If you really, really, wanna be a good guardian, you can take me out for breakfast..." She batted her eyelashes, grinning up at him. "Pretty please?"

Ratchet rolled his optics. "Ugh..." He groaned, throwing the blanket off of himself. "Fine, fine. I'll take you out." He agreed once he stood. This drew a squeal of happiness from Jennie, who was now at the edge of the berth, looking for a way down. Her guardian smiled and picked her up, while warning, "don't try and climb down, you'll fall." She waved a hand dismissively, but sat in his servo happily. They left his berthroom, and traveled down the hall; the others appeared to still be in their own quarters. Ratchet glanced at a digital clock near his monitor; 5:30. His charge had gotten him up early.

"Gee, it felt like nine or something," Jennie said innocently, shrugging. "I just woke you up when I woke up." She looked up at him, smiling. "Maybe we can go through a twenty four hour drive through or something." Her guardian nodded, already heading to the exit and preparing to transform.

"We'll get whatever you want. I still have money."

She tilted her head. "Where'd you get that money anyway? No offense, but your a giant robot. There are no paying jobs that'll hire a giant robot." Ratchet transformed, Jennie landing in the passenger seat, before he answered.

"I had to drive the kids somewhere a while back, and they needed money to get into where they were going, so Miko put it in the glove box for safe keeping. Then the trip was cancelled, and I ended up with the money." He explained, starting his engines. "It wasn't MY choice to drive the kids, but everyone else had to go on a mission, and the only one left in the base was Arcee, and her vehicular mode couldn't fit three people and their luggage." Jennie nodded.

Ratchet left the base and pulled onto the road, picking up speed and heading for Jasper. The sky was still dark, but was lighter than it would be at night; he held a slight uneasiness, given the last time he drove her somewhere in the dark, he'd been abducted by Decepticons. A replay of those horrors was the last thing he wanted. Jennie stirred him from his thoughts by tapping a finger on the dashboard.

"Hey Ratch... so... since I've been at the base, I haven't been going to school... do I need to pick that back up?" She asked curiously.

Ratchet nearly slammed the breaks and yelled at her, having completely forgotten she hadn't attended school since she'd met him. Instead, he scolded sternly, "Jennie, you should've mentioned this a long time ago! Of course you need to pick it back up! An education is substantial for you! Without it you'll never get a proper paying job and you'll be unable to support yourself. Today I'm taking you to your school, and your going to talk to the teachers and pick up where you left off." He growled. "Scrap, I had completely forgotten!"

"Okay, okay," Jennie rolled her eyes, "I'll talk to them... ugh, I hate school." She stopped and thought for a moment, before suddenly becoming rather excited. "But it'll be better than before! I'll actually get things done, and I'll have you to help me... with my dad, I failed miserably. He never cared enough to help. But I know you do!" She beamed happily. "This is gonna be so much better!"

Ratchet inwardly smiled. "Yes, I'll make sure to help you..." He drove into Jasper, as the sun peeked over the horizon slightly, chasing away the moon and stars. It would be light soon. "Where would you like to go?"

His charge stared out the window until a fast food place came into view; she pointed and smiled at the steering wheel. "There's good. Let's go inside though, I wanna eat at a table!" Ratchet pulled into the driveway and parked, his holoform activating and stepping out of the drivers side. He walked around the front of his altmode and opened the door for Jennie, who was pulling the money out of the glovebox. "Aw, thanks Ratch!" She giggled, jumping out. "Your such a gentleman!"

"Hush." Ratchet ruffled her hair playfully, earning a whine of complaint. They entered the restaurant; it wasn't very busy. One man sat in the corner, wolfing down a box of fries. Jennie led the way to the counter, followed by Ratchet, who was looking around, rather unimpressed. His charge ordered what she wanted- a lot - and stepped back, glancing at Ratchet.

"Thanks for doing this, Ratch. Your the best." She smiled. "I enjoy spending time with you."

"I'm glad." He replied, resting one hand on her shoulder, smiling himself. "I have to make up for dissing you and running you over before."

Jennie scoffed. "Aw, you already have!" She grabbed the food as the cashier set it on the counter, and led the way to a table for two. "You've been the best friend I could ever ask for!" They sat down, across from eachother.

As Jennie began eating, Ratchet began talking about schooling; what she'd need to do to get caught up, how he'd help her, and how Agent Fowler could get her back in without the school requesting her parent to come meet with them. She listened for a good amount of time, while stuffing her face with food, before standing up and cutting him off. "Hold up, Ratch. I'm going to the bathroom real quick. Don't do anything crazy while I'm gone." Ratchet nodded, and she enthusiastically bounced to the bathroom; he sat back in his seat and looked around once again, waiting patiently. His gaze shifted to the window. A spooked jump wracked his holoform, however, when he noticed the four men standing outside, next to the building, all talking to eachother intently. Jennie's father stood between them, and by his angry, distorted face, and vicious hand movements, Ratchet could tell he was venting furiously to the other three. The others didn't look like the friendly type; each had violent tattoos, dark, torn clothing, small handguns clearly visible to those who are looking in their pockets, and, barely noticeable, pocket knives down their sleeves. Ratchet immediately sniffed out every weapon each one was holding, looking closely. This wasn't good.

He slowly stood up, grabbing Jennie's food and stuffing it into one bag, before turning and heading towards the hall leading to the bathroom, and waiting at the door to the women's room. About a minute later, Jennie stepped out, startled by his presence. "Ratchet? What's up?"

"J-Jennie-" He began, but he heard the restaurant doors open with a jingle, and heard gruff voices hissing to eachother as the door closed. Scrap. He put a finger to his lips, signaling to Jennie that she needed to be quiet, and listened.

"Man, I think your delusional."

"Shut the hell up. Hey! You! Mind if we talk for a sec?"

The voice of the cashier answered. "No. Why?"

"So my little girl's been kidnapped, and I know who has her... he beat me up when I tried to save my poor little Jennie... I think I just saw him in here. Have you seen a man with orange and white clothes? Weird blue eyes?"

Jennie gasped and pressed up against Ratchet, eyes widening in fear. "R-Ratchet... What are we going to do?"

"Shh..." Ratchet shook his head and listened, gritting his teeth and squeezing his eyes shut.

"Uh... yeah, actually, I have seen-"

"Come on...!" Before he heard the cashier finish his sentence, Ratchet grabbed Jennie's wrist and ran down the hall, straight for the door, exposing them as they zipped by the gang. A cry of surprise escaped Jason, who in return pointed and shouted.

"Bastard! That's my daughter!"

They bolted outside and leapt into Ratchet's altmode, which immediately started and began backing out, just as the men busted through the doors and began running after them. His holoform disappearing, Ratchet slammed on the gas and they sped out onto the road, cutting in front of a few cars, who honked furiously.

Ratchet cried out as multiple bullet suddenly punctured his bumper, as the four men began shooting at him. He felt none barely miss one of his back tires. Jennie screamed. The next bullet didn't miss. The tire popped with a loud crack, as did the other back one as another man shot it. "Scrap!" Ratchet exclaimed, being forced to stop by the lack of wheels. He heard multiple shouts of shock from people around the area. In his rear view mirror, he saw Jason approaching, followed by the other three men accompanying him. His holoform appeared.

"Ratchet..." Jennie whimpered, reaching over and touching his arm.

"Shh, it's alright." He said softly, turning to look at her. "Climb into the back, okay? I'm not going to let them hurt you." Jennie nodded and obeyed, climbing through the space in between the seats and into the back of the ambulance. Once she was safely in the back, Ratchet opened the door and stepped out, his gaze immediately meeting that of her father's.

The man walked up and delivered a hard slap to Ratchet's cheek immediately, hissing in anger. Ratchet yelped in shock, but otherwise didn't react, only glared at him viciously.

"You," he growled, "are not getting your daughter back. Ever."

"That's bull! She's MY daughter!" Jason roared, raising a pistol and aiming it right in between Ratchet's eyes. The medic only narrowed his eyes.

"You have no right to her. All you want to do is abuse her. I cannot allow that to happen to-" He was cut off when he was smacked again, this time just growing more annoyed.

"I have no right to her!? I'm her father! You kidnapped her!"

"Jason," one of the men suddenly spoke up; it was then Ratchet noticed the sirens of cop cars coming their way. "We need to go."

Jason didn't answer. He only stared into Ratchet's eyes, gaze as cold as stone. They glared at eachother for about ten seconds more, until Jason pulled the trigger.