Ratchet returned after a few minutes, looking a little better. He checked Optimus' vitals and redid some things he had hurriedly and sloppily done in the cave. Jack never left Optimus' side, and Ratchet wasn't going to throw him off the berth to get his work done...hopefully.

Once Ratchet was content with Optimus' condition enough to not hover over him every minute, he reached into his subspace, pulling out a first aid kit and handed it to Raf.

"I think the others need this," he explained, gesturing to us and all the cuts we had from Bumblebee's shattered window. I looked at my arm where the bandage Miko had wrapped over my scraped arm (when Ratchet ran over me) was falling off.

Raf nodded, going over to Miko and taking out a small bottle and pouring some of it's contents on a cotton ball. He handed it to her, and she started dabbing at a small cut on her arm, wincing when it stung a little. Raf did the same to Jack, who merely ignored the cotton ball. Miko grabbed it and roughly swiped it over his cuts. He didn't even flinch.

"Jack, it wasn't your fault," Arcee said in a comforting manner, noticing his behavior.

"I could've prevented this." was Jack's reply. Arcee shrugged.

"It's war, Jack. It's what happens."

"I had a chance to defeat your greatest enemy, the whole reason your planet was destroyed, the whole reason you were fighting this war, and I didn't take it!" Jack shouted, throwing his hands up in the air.

"Jack, please, Optimus is trying to recover..." Ratchet pleaded softly.

"Because of me!" Jack shot back. "Optimus nearly died because of me!"

"Jack, Megatron was playing you. He knew you wouldn't have done it, he was manipulating you into believing it would be your fault for anything that happened to Optimus," Arcee explained, trying to reassure him.

"How do you know what happened? You weren't there," Jack shot back.

"Neither were we, Jack. But we heard him talk about it. Arcee is right; it wasn't your fault," Miko replied, placing a hand on Jack's shoulder.

I stayed awkwardly off to the side. I wasn't there, and I only knew Jack for two days; I wasn't really the best choice to comfort someone. What was I supposed to "say", anyway? "I'm sorry, even though I don't really know what happened or what's going on, it wasn't your fault?"

Besides, you don't sound very comforting on paper.

I exhaled slowly, leaning against a wall a little farther away from the others and shoved my hands into my pockets. I watched Ratchet check Optimus' vitals as the others either talked amongst themselves or tried to help Jack. I caught a few pieces of conversations, but I really just found myself dozing off.

"He induced Stasis himself...don't know when he'll wake up..."

"Bucket Head really did a number on him...sorry, Jack..."

"Jack, lighten up..."

"Spark pulse is good...Energon levels are good...

I couldn't stay awake any longer and slid to the floor, closing my eyes and letting sleep overtake me.

***

I woke up to the soft humming of an engine. I cracked an eyelid open and noticed I was moving, and I was sitting inside Ratchet's alt. mode. I looked over to my left, finding my pack and my notebook sitting on the driver's seat. I lazily picked it up.

"Oh, you're up. Good, I didn't know how I was going to wake you," Ratchet's voice filled the car, making me jump.

I searched in my backpack for a pencil and wrote down some words and held them up in his side mirror.

How's Optimus?

"Doing a little better," Ratchet replied, turning a corner.

Jack?

"Arcee practically had to force him out of the base."

I raised an eyebrow, going back to writing.

How long was I out?

"Mm, about an hour."

I stopped, considering whether I should ask him my next question.

How are you?

"Why do you ask?"

It took me a few minutes to write down my answer.

Because you gave up a lot of your energon. And I think the D. Energon was getting to you or something when you did more harm than help Optimus at one point. Maybe you felt bad about that, I don't know. I just thought I should ask.

"I'm fine." was Ratchet's simple reply. I nodded, looking out of the window for a second before writing something else.

Why did you take me home?

"What? It's what I'm expected to do as your guardian," Ratchet replied, slightly confused.

I thought you would be staying with Optimus and someone else would take me home or something.

"You're my charge, Charge. As much as I don't like it, I have a responsibility. Also, I left the base's com-link open."

I smiled, before letting it disappear as I wrote another sentence.

Ratchet, I'm sorry about earlier today, the event with Vince and my notebook...it won't happen again.

"It better not happen again," Ratchet replied with a scoff, coming to a stop at my house. I nodded, getting out.

Thank you.

Ratchet didn't respond, only waited for me to go inside. One I had shut the door behind me, I heard the familiar rumble of an engine before it faded away. I checked the street outside my house. He was gone.

A small smile slowly found it's way onto my lips. Then I erased every trace of the Autobots' existence from my notebook.

**

Ratchet's P.O.V.

Why?

Why did that feel weird?

I only took her home, like I was supposed to. I've honestly treated her like scrap and she still cared about my well-being.

Why do I have to make conclusions about everything? She could've just been in a good mood, I might've been...I don't know.

I drove down the vacant streets of Jasper, watching the scenery pass as I drove.

On impulse I turned on another street, and before I knew it I had gone to the same road where I first ran over Cassidy. I had no idea what I was doing here. Get a grip, Ratchet, I thought to myself, backing out and continuing to go to the base.

Once inside, I immediately transformed and walked over checking on Optimus again.

"Ratchet, he's fine," Bulkhead said from behind me, making me jump and crash into a table, making one of my tools fall and break.

"Scrap, I needed that."

"Of course you did," Bulkhead sighed. I glared at him.

"Anyway, you don't need to hover over Optimus and check on him every few minutes. You're worse than Jack," Bulkhead continued.

"I heard that, Bulkhead!" Arcee called through the com-link.

"You-you, uh, what?" Bulkhead asked, scratching his helm.

"Ratchet left the com-link open," Arcee chuckled, but she became serious again.

"Don't pick on Jack, okay?"

"I wasn't picking on him, I was just showing Ratchet how much he was obsessing!" Bulkhead defended.

"Okay, but still. Jack feels bad enough as it is."

Bulkhead sighed, nodding, going down the hall to our berth rooms that the humans hadn't found yet, thankfully. I fought the urge to check Optimus again and went to my computer, busying myself with searching for Energon signatures for the rest of the night, not bothering to go to my room to recharge.

*

"Ratchet?"

The sound of someone calling my name made me straighten up in a flash. I gathered my senses and realized I had fallen into a light recharge leaning on my computer...standing up.

I shook my helm as I looked to see who had spoken, but I could see no one besides Optimus, but he should still be-"

"Ratchet?"

It was Optimus. I blinked, trying to be sure I wasn't...dreaming or anything. Optimus shouldn't even be awake right now, he induced himself into stasis from his injuries.

I slowly walked over, checking his vitals again as I asked, "Yes, Optimus?"

"How...how did we get here?" he asked weakly, watching me.

"You fell into stasis soon after Megatron stabbed you. Then the kids sort of...blew up the mine. We were able to reach Raf and bridge back," I explained quietly, looking at him with a small smile.

"When...when did this happen?" he asked, a look of confusion on his face. My smile quickly turned into a frown.

"A few hours ago. You...don't remember?"

"The last thing I remember is Jack's mother learning of our existence."

My optics widened. "Optimus...that...that was nearly six weeks ago."

"What?" he asked, expressions of worry and confusion evident in his optics.

I looked away, trying to recall what could have done this.

Self-induced stasis, perhaps. If not done medically, one of the risks is processor damage.

Or the injury I made worse...but there was no way that would've effected him, it wasn't anywhere near his processor.

I decided stasis was the cause.

"Optimus, you really don't remember anything since then?" I asked, turning back over to him, meeting his slightly worried gaze.

"Unfortunately, no," he replied softly. I sighed quietly, nodding.

"Get some recharge, Optimus. You need it."

Optimus didn't reply, and I took that to mean he was doing as I had told him to.

I looked back at the computer screen, wondering how I would tell everyone the news.

Maybe Jack will feel better about it; Optimus wouldn't remember what happened.

And...Optimus won't remember my charge.

Tomorrow should be a little interesting.

~~~

I SWEAR, THIS TOOK FOREVER TO WRITE.

I rewrote it four times because I didn't know what I was going to do!

So I'm sorry if this was short, I had a lack of inspiration and I also have finals next week.

Oh, Joy.

Anyway, I agree with Ratchet. This should be interesting... :P

Thank you all for bearing with me! I hope you enjoyed this chapter! (And the media...I've decided to start doing one for every chappy. :D)

(Oh, btw, the answer to the riddle in the previous chapter was the letter E. :3 )