*I don't own Transformers or anything affiliated with Transformers. I only own my original characters and plots. All rights go to Michael Bay and Steven Spielberg.*

Two weeks and two long ass autopsies was all it took for me to get to where I was now. If I was going to be honest, these past two weeks have been nothing but pure hell for me. Since I "ended" things with Ironhide, things have been so much different. Yeah, I had Mikaela, Leo, Adalyn, and my dad with me, but I just felt so alone, even with the company they gave me.

I couldn't sleep or anything. Most of the times I spent my nights awake, sitting outside on my balcony just staring up at the sky, the tears streaming down my face. If I was lucky, I could get a good two hours of sleep a night, but even then I still struggled to completely fall asleep. I mostly just wanted to keep the nightmares away, but no matter what I did to try and prevent them, they always returned, making my subconscious one of the scariest settings I've ever been to.

I spent my days in the bathroom, leaning over the toilet to expel whatever was inside my body. It was mostly bile though; I hadn't had a proper meal in weeks. I really did wish that I could eat something, but I didn't have the energy to even think about eating. The only thing I really put into my system was water and to me that was as good as it could get although it did come up several hours later along with the rest of my fucking stomach lining.

This was the worst I had ever been. My dad, whenever he, Adalyn, and Mikaela weren't down at the funeral home had spent the better part of two weeks trying to comfort me when it was really the both of us who should have been comforting each other. Nothing worked for me though; there was no possible way that I could get through this. I've been trying my absolute best, but sometimes your best isn't exactly enough.

For the past two weeks, my mind had been centered solely around my mother and baby sister. I never got the chance to say goodbye to either of them and the worst part of it was the voice mail I received from my mom just minutes before she was attacked. It had shattered me in more ways than a person could be shattered. I just didn't understand why this had to happen to me. I didn't understand why anything bad ever had to happen to me. It wasn't fair and having my very innocent mother and sister taken away from me most certainly wasn't fair. Annabelle was only five years old. She was the happiest little girl I knew and she absolutely loved her life and everyone around her. She was so excited to learn how to fight like me and everything, but now she didn't get to. My mom was of course not five years old, but she still had the rest of her life ahead of her. She had a loving husband and two daughters who loved her more than anything in the world, but she never got to see how it would all turn out.

At least I knew now what exactly had happened to them. It didn't make me feel any better about the situation, but it was just good to know what had happened that fateful day. My mom had several lacerations covering the entirety of her body, there was a fracture in her skull which led to bleeding on her brain, and she also had seven broken ribs which punctured one of her lungs. Annabelle's injuries were a lot less dire, but they were dire enough that they would kill a five year old girl. She had a gunshot wound to her shoulder, and a stab wound in her abdomen. What actually made them die so slowly was the odd amount of radiation in their system. That was all the information I needed to know that it was a Decepticon who had done this to them.

My dad may have been right when he told me he didn't believe that I could ever get through this completely without Ironhide, but I was trying. I was failing at it, but I was still trying. That's all that mattered to me.

This lead to one of the hardest days of my life though: saying goodbye to two of my favorite people in the world. My father and I, along with Adalyn and our closest friends sat in the very front of the funeral home as it was customary for families and friends of the deceased to do so. There were quite a lot of people in here. I had no clue who most of them were; all I knew is that they were close friends of my mom and people who worked with my mom. There were also a few of Annabelle's preschool friends here with their parents as well as her babysitter who loved Anna so much. The only people here I actually knew were of course my dad, Adalyn, Mikaela, Leo, Sam, Carly, Epps, Monique, my dad's soldiers and the Autobots. Well, most of the Autobots. I hadn't seen Optimus, Ironhide, the Wreckers, or even Ratchet today. Ratchet had taken off to help them clean up Chicago about a week ago, and I assumed that's where they still were. Sam's parents and Braelynn's parents had even managed to make it out here, so there were four more people that I knew.

For the past thirty minutes, the preacher-person had done nothing but speak. I hadn't heard a word he said. Like I did at Braelynn's funeral, I just stared at the two coffins in front of me. My mom's was of course slightly bigger than my sister, but they both were the same in regards to color and interior design; they were absolutely beautiful. By now, my tears had soaked through the neckline of my dress. It was black, of course. It was one of the dresses I had worn to work many times before, but it was slightly too big for me, given that I hadn't eaten for weeks. No human could actually tell that there was a major difference, but I could. I could feel it and I knew that if I looked as bad as I felt, people would begin to ask questions.

As I was sitting, I felt that very familiar lurch inside my stomach. I stiffened ever so slightly before letting go of my dad's hand. I stood up quickly and rushed to the exit door of the funeral home, all eyes on me as I did so. They were the least of my worries though. I was far more focused with not projecting my bodily fluids all over the building. Soon enough, I shoved the exit door open and stepped out into the warm, Washington air. As soon as I spotted a bush in the home's front yard, I ran over, emptying the acidic contents of my stomach onto the plant.

I let out a loud sob as I knelt down on the ground, clutching the grass in my hands as tightly as I possibly could. With all of the energy that I could muster, I wiped my mouth before wiping my hand onto the grass. This only got harder and harder and I honestly didn't know how much more of it I could take. It felt as if I was on the brink of death and I hated it.

The sound of footsteps off to my left caught my attention, slightly startling me. Assuming it was just my dad, I continued to look at the ground, the tears still flowing.

"Shouldn't you be inside?" I asked him.

"No. I believe you to be my main priority at the moment," another voice said. I tensed up. It wasn't my dad; it was Ironhide and I most definitely didn't want him to see me like this.

"Why aren't you in Chicago with Optimus and the rest of them?" I inquired, my focus still on the ground.

"It's been approximately two weeks since I've last spoken to you or laid optics on you, Azalea, and I couldn't very well leave you be today. I needed to see how you were and I'm sad to see you like this," he answered.

Out of the corner of my eye, I could see him take a couple steps closer to me. He knelt down beside me and just looked at me, causing me to turn my head in the other direction. He sighed and placed a hand on my arm, his touch sending an overwhelming amount of comfort into my body, comfort that I had been longing for for the past two weeks. I knew it was just a matter of time. .

"I don't want you to see me like this."

He only grunted. "I've seen you like this before, Azalea. It bothers me, but it just doesn't bother me the way you perceive it does," he remarked.

I sniffed and wiped my eyes, most likely getting makeup all over my face.

"I can't do this," I whimpered.

"I had a hunch." His response only caused me to frown.

"I need you so badly. I should have never even said what I said to you. It was stupid," I grumbled.

The next thing I knew, I was being pulled up from the ground and pulled into a warm pair of arms. I didn't know why I started crying again, but I did, much to my despair. I wrapped my arms tightly around Ironhide's waist and buried my face into his shirt.

"I don't care, kid. I'm here now, but only if you want me to be," he said to me. I held his body tighter.

"Of course I want you to be here. I want nothing more than for you to be here, Hide."

He chuckled. "Then I'm here."

The doors to the funeral home burst open and I jumped up, removing myself from Ironhide's body. I averted my attention to my dad's soldiers who were carrying my mother's and sister's coffins to the two hearses I hadn't even noticed sitting in front of the building. The feeling in my stomach returned and I held my abdomen tightly and forced my mouth shut to keep it from coming back up. My dad soon appeared in the crowd of people and once his eyes met mine, he ran over to me, hugging me immediately. Ignoring the feeling, I hugged him back.

"You missed the rest of the service, Lea."

I pulled away from him and grabbed Ironhide's hand. "I don't think I care. I didn't even listen to a word of it when I was inside," I told him.

"Well, are you coming with me? If not I need your keys," he informed me.

I sighed knowing that I would have to go back inside to retrieve my stuff for my dad. My dad hadn't been home once in the past two weeks so he's been using my car whenever he needed to do so. He'd been way too busy taking care of me, making sure I didn't die.

"Um, I'll just go get them," I said quietly.

I let go of Ironhide's hand and pushed my way through the sea of people to get inside the building. It was empty; that much I figured considering everyone was gathered outside.

This building was huge as hell so they had a special room where the family and friends of the deceased could leave their belongings if it became too much of a bother and distraction to hold onto them during the services. It was convenient, but it was also too far away from the sanctuary. I walked down the long corridor, my heels for once silent against the carpet on the floor. Finally, I came to the oak door at the end of the hall and pushed it open, my purse and Carly's coming into view. I playfully rolled my eyes; she was always forgetting something. I grabbed the two purses and headed back out into the hallway, closing the door behind me. Once I looked up, I stopped, slightly startled by the face in front of me--a face I hadn't seen in nearly four years.

"Trent. What are you doing here?" I asked him.

He smiled and shrugged. This was possibly one of the most random things in my life. I hadn't spoken to him since my senior year of high school and I don't even remember seeing him arrive at the funeral period. But then again, I wasn't exactly in my right mind. I'm still not for that matter.

"I heard about what happened. Most everyone in Tacoma knew who your family was. Word got around fast," he told me.

I scratched the back of my head. Why would he come all the way to the east coast just because of that though? We weren't even close and my mom hated him. .

"But why did you come all the way out here?"

He chuckled and took a couple steps closer to me. For some reason, there was a bad feeling stirring up inside my body. "I can't come and support a friend in her time of need?"

Hm, I know that I forgave him and all, but I never once gave him the title of being my "friend".

"Well, I guess you can. Thank you for coming. I need to get back outside to my family now," I told him. I took a few rushed steps passed him, but he yanked me back. I turned around to face him, his hold on my arm never once faltering. "What are you doing?" I asked him, my heartbeat accelerating.

"You really want to know why I'm here?" he asked, his face now a mere inch from my own. "I'm here because I knew that I could somehow get you alone and also, I noticed you weren't with your precious boyfriend. I've been granted two strokes of luck today and I'm quite happy about it," he stated.

I attempted to pull away from him, but he was way too strong. My lack of energy wasn't going to be aiding me today.

"What do you want with me?" I asked him.

"What I've wanted for years, Azalea: you and revenge for what you and your boyfriend did to me back in junior year. You forgave me and my first step to get back at you was going to be that party, but then Braelynn died and you got hurt so I couldn't exactly carry out my plan then. Plus, the only time we ever spoke during senior year was in school and I wasn't going to make that mistake again. But now you're here, you're weak, and by the looks of it you're both mentally and physically exhausted," he answered evilly.

"So, you're taking advantage of my weak state so you can have your fun with me? What kind of sick bastard does something like that? And at a funeral home?" I retorted.

He slammed me up against the wall and I winced, dropping the bags from my hands. "This is the only chance that I'll get. You deserve this for what you did to me," he spat.

My eyes widened as he moved one of his hands to the sleeve of my dress. He began pulling it down my arm and I struggled even more to get free. I could already feel the tears screaming down my face again.

"Please don't do this to me," I pleaded. This was absolutely sick. What kind of person would attempt to rape someone in a funeral home after their mother and sister had just died? It only added on to the stress.

"You deserve this, Lea," he countered as he pulled my dress down my body.

He didn't get passed my waistline, though, as I kneed him in the groin. He groaned in pain and I pushed him away from me. He landed on the floor with a thud and I grabbed the two bags from the floor. I made a move to run from the building, but Trent grabbed my ankle, removing my shoe from my foot and causing me to fall to the floor. By now, I was shaking with fear. I only wish I had enough strength to fight him off, but I knew I didn't. There was no use in yelling either. I was too far away from the entrance for anyone to hear me.

I rolled over to see that Trent was now standing up and making his way over to me. I did my best to scoot away from him, but he grabbed my arm and yanked me up off the ground, slamming me back into the wall. This time, he completely removed my dress from my body, his fingers trailing up and down my thighs, only getting closer and closer to his intended destination. I let out a whimper as his fingers grasped at the hem of my underwear.

"No, please stop," I begged loudly, trying to get away from him.

"Karma's a nasty bitch, Lea," he whispered in my ear.

Just as he was about to remove them from my lower half, he was literally being tackled to the floor, and the angle I had been at trying to get away from him had caused me to fall back down to the floor as well. Almost immediately there was a pair of hands on my shoulders. I turned around to see my dad and behind him was a very angry Epps and Mikaela standing with Sam and Bumblebee's holoform. My only guess was that Ironhide had been the one to tackle Trent, and turning around only proved that to be true. He held Trent against the wall by the collar of his shirt, his facial expression showing nothing but anger.

"I could kill you right now and not think twice about it," Ironhide snapped. I could almost feel the fear radiating off of Trent's body, but then again that may have been my own.

"Ironhide," my dad called; there was a lot of anger in his tone as well, but I knew that it wasn't towards Hide.

Ironhide growled obviously heeding my father's warning. The only thing he did was throw Trent to the ground before walking back over to the little group that had gathered in the large hallway. All I could do was stare at Trent with fear in my eyes as he rolled around on the floor. How in the hell could he do that to me?

Suddenly, it was dark as someone pulled my dress back over my head. Once the light appeared again, I saw Mikaela in front of me, her face etched in deep concentration as she re-clothed me. Once my arms were finally situated inside my sleeves, I was being pulled up from the ground. I knew who it was almost immediately and wasted no time at all to wrap my arms around his waist. He held me as tightly as he possibly could; it was almost as if he was afraid to let me go.

"Thank you," I cried into his shirt.

He didn't respond. He only kissed my head. I pulled away from him and picked up my shoes and purse seeing as Sam already had Carly's in his hand. I gave my best friend a small smile before latching onto Ironhide again. He wasted no time in leading me out of the building, my dad following closely behind me. Once we were outside, I reached into my purse and grabbed my keys before handing them to my dad.

"Don't have too much fun now. I love you," I told him.

He smiled at me. "Love you, kiddo. Your sister and I will see you back at home, but we may grab a bite to eat before then. Don't wait up for us," he responded before walking off to my car.

I smiled knowing that he was talking about Adalyn and continued on towards Ironhide's alternate mode, the pavement burning my feet with each step I took. Wearing my shoes would have been the smart thing to do, but my feet were already hurting from them, so I tiptoed as quickly as I could to his form, the passenger's side door opening automatically. I hopped in almost immediately and the door closed behind me. Ironhide's lesser form appeared about five seconds later. He closed the door and in seconds we were out of the parking lot.

*Please vote and comment. It'd mean so much to me. I wanna know what you guys think.*