*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.*

For the past hour or so I had been sitting in this damn hospital. I hadn't seen him yet, but I was just told, or Ironhide was just told, that my very distraught father had to fill out a bunch of paperwork before we could leave. From what I knew about this type of situation, it was most likely discharge papers and insurance papers concerning bills and such. Thankfully, I had a good amount of money from college and my job saved up. I refused to let my dad pay any of these hospital bills. Whatever insurance didn't cover, I would take care of and I didn't care what he had to say about it. It would be the least I could do after he took care of me for nineteen years.

By now, majority of the Autobots were here, aside from Bumblebee who was with Sam, and Optimus and the Wreckers who were already on their way back to Chicago to help with the major clean up process that would take quite a long time. I wondered why more of the Autobots weren't with Sam, but then I remembered that Sam was nowhere near as close to all of the Autobots as I was; that explained why I was so torn up when Jolt, Que, Mudflap, and Skids were killed and being here because of my mom's and my sister's murder was just the icing on the cake.

I hadn't talked to anyone at all and I had actually managed to stop crying, but I just felt so numb that I couldn't even cry anymore. As soon as I found a waiting room, I ran in, wasting no time at all to lay down on the fancy little couch they had in here, so for how ever long I've been here, I'd just been laying on Ironhide's lap, staring at the beige-colored wall in front of my face. During this short period of time, I've had Dino, Sideswipe, and Ratchet check on me, but like I said, I haven't spoken to anybody. I do remember Ratchet telling Ironhide that he was worried about my state of mentality before he left, but oh well. This sort of thing kind of happens when someone loses two of the most important people in their life.

I listened closely as the waiting room door opened, but I didn't dare look away from the wall. Oddly enough, I had been concentrating on this damn wall so hard that I could very faintly make out the brownish-reddish minerals they used to pack the cement together. I frowned, though, when my view of the wall was obstructed by a body or four at the most. For the first time in I don't know how long, my eyes shot up to meet the faces of Sam, Carly, Bumblebee's holoform, and my good friend Mikaela Banes. Had I not been in such a state, I would probably be pondering over why Mikaela was with Sam and Carly. I was almost certain it had to be awkward as fuck, but whatever. That wasn't my business.

Sighing, I twisted around so that I was now looking at Ironhide's shirt, concentrating solely on the material. I could feel him rubbing my back in a comforting notion with his hand, but I found no comfort in this situation. It just wasn't possible.

"Azalea Grace," I heard Sam say from behind me.

"Good luck trying to get her to speak. She hasn't spoke in two hours," Ironhide told him.

I mentally groaned. So, I'd been here for two hours instead of one? All I wanted was to see my daddy and go home. That's all that I wanted.

I felt my legs being lifted and then there was a weight on the small couch. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Bumblebee playing with my shoe strings, a small frown on his face. Another thing I wondered is why they weren't with Sam's parents. I was almost certain that the well-being of his parents should be his main concern at this very moment. If anything, I was irrelevant to his situation.

"Shouldn't you be with your parents?" I heard Adalyn ask.

"Yes, but they insisted that they were well enough for us to come over here. They care about Azalea too and are more than upset they can't be here for her or even Will," Sam answered her. She sniffed and I frowned.

She was just as torn apart by this as I was, but maybe just a bit less. She once told me that in her entire twenty years of life, she had never once felt that she had a family until she met my family and Ironhide. My parents had literally become her parents over the past couple of years and my sister might as well have been her little sister. And Ironhide. .well the two loved each other in a family manner of course. It was almost as if she saw him as a brother considering she had two of them that never really wanted her around to interfere in their families' lives. But aside from that, Adalyn had lost two of the most important people in her life as well and it pained me to an even greater extent to know that my "little sister" was in so much pain because of this.

Most everyone had went to sit down, but not before delivering a "comforting" pat to my back or my head. The waiting room was now silent, but I could very faintly make out the sound of the faucet dripping in the bathroom followed by the sound of the TV and the coffee maker they had in here. After a few more moments of silence, the waiting room door opened again.

"Lea," I heard my dad's strained voice call out to me.

I immediately whipped my head around to face him. He stood with Uncle Epps and his wife Monique, but currently, my father was my main priority. I jumped up from Ironhide's and Bumblebee's lap and ran over to him, wrapping my arms around his neck while he wrapped his around my waist. I could just feel it in his frame just how broken he was. He lost his wife and his daughter and I knew that there was a distinct difference between that and me losing my mother and sister. We were both feeling a great amount of pain, but they were four different kinds. Seeing my best friend in the ENTIRE world in so much pain was awful. He didn't deserve this after everything he's been through.

"Are you ready to go?" he asked me.

I nodded. "You're staying with me, okay? Don't even try to argue with me about it."

He just sighed and released me. I was only feeling slightly better because of my dad's presence, but the pain was and would always be there. Come to think of it, the pain from missing Braelynn was still there as well; it was deeply implanted into the soft tissues of my brain and always would be.

Before I knew it, I was being pulled into a new pair of arms and I squealed as I hit my uncle's chest which actually caused my dad to let out a small laugh. I smiled at the sound of it and wrapped my arms around my uncle's waist before moving to Monique who happened to be really close with my mom. She was a wreck.

"I'm sorry, Lea."

I knew that this didn't apply to Monique, but never in my life would I understand why people apologized for things like this. I understood their need to be sympathetic, but still. .it wasn't their fault, and no offense, but I didn't need anyone's pity or even sorrow. In two days time most everyone would forget about it except for the people closely involved in the situation.

"It isn't your fault," I sighed.

I let her go and turned back around, only to be met by the many faces of my friends. The proximity between us was so close it caused me to take a few steps back. If it wasn't obvious already, I had space issues. .well only sometimes and now was one of those times.

"Don't you guys think you're a bit too close for comfort?" I mused.

I latched onto my dad who now had a very upset Adalyn wrapped tightly in his arms. Told you. .

"Sorry," Sam chuckled.

I walked back over to Ironhide who still sat in his previous spot on the couch. He gave me a small smile as I approached him. "Would you maybe want to leave now?" I inquired.

I didn't know how much more I could take of this place before I lost it again. The numbness from earlier was slowly starting to seep out of my system, but that was only because my dad was here; he couldn't exactly stop the tears though.

Ironhide nodded and stood up, taking my hand in his own. I looked to Adalyn and Leo, well actually only Leo; Adalyn was still wrapped up in my dad's arms.

"Are you two coming home with me? I have a room for you."

Leo nodded and walked over to grab Adalyn from my father. I quickly thanked everyone for coming and assured Sam, Carly, and Mikaela that I would call them later. Actually, I wound up offering Mikaela a room at my apartment to keep the level of awkwardness down a bit and she happily accepted. I only had two extra bedrooms though, and one was without a doubt for my father. She could share with Leo and Adalyn. It would be just like old times and the more loved ones I had with me, the better chance I had at dealing with this.

Since my dad had decided to leave with Epps and Monique, we had went on ahead and left. The ride back was silent. I assumed Ironhide and Leo were just letting Adalyn and I just soak into our feelings. There was no doubt that later the two of them would be trying to comfort us, but I didn't mind that. This is one of the worst things that has ever happened to me and at the moment, I needed all the attempted comfort I could get.

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