The days and nights past with very little seeming to change. Shelby never left the base. She usually stayed in the room she shared with Dreadwing. She kept away from everyone. She didn't speak unless spoken too. Dreadwing could barely get her to talk. She spent most of her time cleaning her weapons.

Taking them apart, reassembling them.

Taking them apart, reassembling them.

All day long. She barely ate, she only drank. Alcohol and lots of it. She could always hold her liquor, and now she drank it like water. It did nothing to her. Her body was so immune to it. She took her sips in between her weapon cleaning. She would usually go with Bumblebee or Bulkhead to go get it, as well cigarettes. She wanted to go with Dreadwing, but his alt would confuse a lot of people.

They were all starting to get worried for her. Jack had explained the effects of alcohol to the bots and ex con after Dreadwing brought up the issue with all the liquor bottles starting to litter the floor of their room. He told them that she was abusing it now. It wasn't just a drink for a good time with her anymore. It was beginning to become a problem.

"We must stop her drinking then." Optimus ordered.

"Optimus, you can't just tell a drinker to stop drinking. She needs to go to therapy. She needs to get help. If this continues she will become more and more dependent on the alcohol. It will only get worse." Explained Jack.

"When I first met her, she didn't seem to drink a lot." Dreadwing stated.

"It doesn't take a lot for someone to become alcohol dependent. My mom said we need to see if she has a record of Alcoholism or if it runs in the family." Jack told them.

"How do we find that out?" Arcee asked.

"I'd say check her house, but that obviously won't work." Jack stated.

"We still got Silas locked up, lets ask him. He is her father." Bulkhead suggested.

Upon hearing this and agreeing, Optimus and Dreadwing made there way to where they were keeping Silas locked up.

They stormed into the room, both their faces showed anger.

"Wake up!" Yelled Dreadwing as he yanked Silas out of statis. Silas awoke with a groggy start.

"Does alcoholism run in Shelby's family?" Optimus voice echoed throughout the room.

Silas gave them a smirk.

"Why has poor Shelby taken up a little drinking?" He asked slyly.

Dreadwing gave a low growl, causing Silas to flinch.

"No, no one in the family had a drinking problem. No one, not even me, drank. It is something that happens to some members of the military when they have PTSD." He explained.

"And what is that?" Dreadwing asked his teeth clenched together.

"Maybe you should ask Shelby. She would be able to give you a better answer, since she is the one who has it." Silas smirked.

Dreadwing went to punch him, but Optimus stopped him before he could. Dreadwing turned swiftly on his feet and walked out of the room abruptly.

"Ratchet, please put him back in statis." Optimus told the medic, then he followed Dreadwing out of the room.

"Jack, does your mother know anything about PTSD?" Dreadwing asked as he walked into the larger area of the building.

"I'm not sure, but I can ask her." Jack took out his cell phone and proceeded to dial his mothers number.

"No she doesn't know much. She said it does stands for post traumatic stress disorder. She hasn't dealt with any patients with the problem." He said hanging up the phone.

Ratchet started to type away at the large computers.

"It says here that it is a disorder in which a person has difficulty recovering after experiencing or witnessing a terrifying event." Ratchet read of the computer. "Some symptoms include: Flashbacks, Nightmares, avoiding thoughts or feelings related to the traumatic even, staying away from places, events or objects that can be reminders of the traumatic experience, being easily startled, feeling tense or 'on edge', difficulty sleeping, angry outbursts, trouble remembering key features of the traumatic event, negative thoughts about oneself or the world, distorted feelings like guilt or blame, loss of interest in enjoyable activities, and it can lead to substance abuse."

"She doesn't talk to us anymore. How can we know if she has any of that stuff?" Miko asked.

"Well she has the Nightmares, She doesn't like to go anywhere, she barely leaves the room. She has difficulty sleeping as well as angry outbursts. She doesn't like to do anything anymore and she drinks...a lot." Dreadwing counted.

"So it's safe to say that she has PTSD. Now how do we fix her?" Arcee asked.

"You can't just fix her, like how you guys can fix yourselves. She's gonna take time to heal. The hard part is getting her to want to get help." Raf piped up.

They all nodded understanding. They started to spit out ideas on how to get her to want help. They had yet to notice the alcoholic standing at the end of the hallway, listening to the conversation.

She took a swig of the bottle of Jack she was carrying around with her. Her eyes droop from lack of sleep. Her hair was in a tangled messy pony tail on the top of her head. She was wearing a baggy black hoodie that was a few sizes to big for her. The back of the hoodie said 'Warning I'm a veteran & an asshole so if you don't want your feelings hurt walk away' in red and white lettering and a skull in the background. She also had on a pair of plain black leggings and was walking around barefoot. She knew what she was doing to herself. They don't have a clue of what's going on with her. She took another swig and turned to walk away, but something caught her attention.

"She still sings." Miko's voice rang out.

Shelby stopped in her tracks and did a quick turn around.

"Yeah, we've walked past her door a few times and could hear her. It was beautiful, but also sad. You could hear her sadness as she sang." Raf continued.

"I've heard her too." Said Arcee.

The others started to agree. Dreadwing was the only one yet to say something about it.

"Does she still sing to you, Dreadwing." Miko asked looking up at him, her eyes full of hope.

Shelby leaned in closer, stumbling a little bit, causing her bottle to smash on the floor and glass shooting everywhere. Everyone and Everybot turned to look at where the noise came from. Dreadwing was the first to notice her and ran over to her. Shelby had fell down onto her knees, her hands covering her face.

"Shelby?" Dreadwing slid to her in his holoform, wrapping his arms around her.

"Shhhh It's okay, shhhh." He whispered into her ear.

Jack ran over with a broom and started to sweep up the glass. The other bots plus Raf and Miko stood around the two. No one was sure what to say. Most were questioning how much she heard. For now, they just wanted to make sure she was okay.

"Shelby, we need to talk to you." Arcee started.

"Not now Arcee." Optimus stopped her.

"I already know what you guys think of me. You think I'm an alcoholic. You think I need help. You think I have PTSD. Well you don't know the half of it." She glared at them all.

With that she stood up and walked away. Dreadwing following behind. The others looked at each other in confusion. What did they not know?

"What don't we know? What haven't you told me?" Dreadwing immediately said after the door closed behind them.

"You guys don't know anything!" She screamed at him. He backed up, looking at her in shock. She had never yelled at him like this.

"I know how you feel." He said quietly pausing for a moment, making sure she was listening.

"I know your trying to grieve. I know that you blame yourself. I know you are trying to push everyone away, thinking it won't effect anyone." He continued to say.

She crawled up on the bed and curled up on the pillow. Dreadwing sat on the edge of the bed, keeping a small distance.

"I'm sorry." She choked out.

"It's okay. I know what your going through. I lost my home and my twin. My twin was my only family. The only one who truly knew me. You lost your whole family and your home. The only difference is someone who you thought was family, was the one to destroy it." He explained.

"I don't know what to do anymore, Dreadwing." She cried. "I just want to forget everything. Drinking doesn't even do anything to me anymore. Now I do it because I've been living on it. My body needs it, craves it. I can't get the nightmares out of my head. I can't handle the feeling of guilt eating away at me. Its my fault. All my fault."

She cried into the pillow. Dreadwing leaned closer and rested his hand on her back. Shelby sat up and leaned over to the table next to the bed. She grabbed the pack of cigarettes and the ash tray and brought it over to herself. She leaned against the wall and lit up the nicotine stick.

"You should probably quit that too." Dreadwing suggested.

"I ain't quiten nothin." Her accent showing.

He decided to not argue with her.

"I care about you, Shelby. I hate seeing you this way." He told her.

She looked up for a few seconds, biting her lip, then looked back at him.

"I'm a mess, Dreadwing. I'm a ticking time bomb. You shouldn't care about me." She looked him straight in the eyes. He shook his head at her.

"No, your more than that. You are brave, smart, not to mention beautiful, you saved my life. Now it's time to return the favor." He told her, staring deeply into her eyes.

She couldn't help but give a small smile. She looked away trying to hide it.

"Don't you dare hide that smile. That is the first time I've seen you smile in days. I've missed it." He had grabbed her chin and made her look at him again.

"Now, I'm not going to force you to quit anything, but I do think you should let us help you." he said deeply.

"I don't want to go to therapy. I don't want to see some phycologist who thinks he knows how to cure me, but doesn't." She growled.

"Then lets start with us helping you. We will start small." He suggested.

She gave him a small smile and nodded her head. He gave her a smile back.

He leaned his forehead against hers and said, "We will get though this together."

He wanted to kiss her in that moment. In that moment he realized that she is the one. The one for him. He wanted to show her how much he meant to her, but he knew he had to take things slow. She was in a dangerous position right now. He needed to be careful. He was glad that she was willing to take the step to get better. To try and overcome this huge hill that was in front of her. He didn't have anyone there for him after his brother died. So, he was going to make sure he was there for her. She was not going to go through this alone. She melted into his chest and he held her close.

She was glad that she had someone who wanted to be there for her. She was dying inside, slowly and painfully. She couldn't tell Dreadwing how she was really feeling. It would crush his spark. She wanted him to be happy. He deserved it and if trying to get better would do it. Then she will try. She knew she was falling for him. She hoped so was he, but he was an entirely different species. Why would he fall for a mere human? Especially one as messed up as her. She doesn't know what love is. For her sake, she hopes this is what it feels like. She knew she had to find way, but its hard for victims of PTSD to get through it. Especially one with a past like hers.

She was going to do it for Dreadwing. He was going to be with her every step of the way. The others were going to back her. While the two were in their room, the others were looking up ways to help people with PTSD. For people with alcoholism. It was going to be a long process, but it was going to be worth it.

The end...for now.