"Do, do you, got a first aid kit handy?
Do, do you, know how to patch up a wound,"

»«

Ratchet was waiting apprehensively as Arcee made her way through the Groundbridge, carrying what looked like a pod in her hands. In that pod there was a human, her red scrubs all it took for Ratchet to recognise who she was.

"Dana?" Ratchet asked as the Groundbridge closed, stepping forward and reaching for his charge. Arcee took a half step back, warning him not to touch. "What happened? Why was she on Cybertron? What . . . What is wrong with her?" He began to notice all of the bruising and swelling that was disfiguring her body, becoming more and more panicked.

"Megatron . . . He . . . Hurt her." Arcee described in morbid detail what happened, but didn't waste time to tell him what needed to happen. "She needs to be taken to the hospital, now. Her injuries are vast and could be fatal."

"I'm calling Nurse Darby." Ratchet immediately dialed the woman, Arcee gently setting the pod down, carefully opening the lid so fresh oxygen could reach the girl. Dana didn't so much as stir, chest still rising slowly and shortly. "And I should contact Agent Fowler." The medic added as an afterthought.

Arcee simply nodded, worried not only for Dana but also the other humans. While the human girl had pushed Megatron to his breaking point, if he was still angry enough any of the other kids could be victims. The femme couldn't bear to see her like that, but she didn't want to risk moving her and provoking her injuries. Arcee would never forgive herself if she did irreversible damage to the girl . . .

"Nurse Darby is on her way." Ratchet turned to see Arcee kneeling by the pod, a knife of grief piercing his spark as his optics lingered on his charge. He carefully walked over to Arcee and knelt down, his digits lightly touching the outside. A part of him hoped that Dana would show some other kind of life, but to no avail. She remained immobile.

Arcee put her small servo over his. "She's still breathing. She's going to survive."

"At what cost?" Ratchet questioned, his other servo curling into a fist. "Will she be able to function normally again? Will she remember anything?" His voice dropped to almost inaudible levels. "The last thing she remembers of us is fighting. What if that is the only thing she remembers?"

"You can't change the past, Ratchet." Arcee wanted to try and get him to see reason. Losing Tailgate and Cliffjumper had been hard, but she was able to deal. How Ratchet could handle losing someone close to him was unpredictable at best. "You can only look forward to the future. So what if you have to start from square one? If nothing else about her has changed, then your relationship will persist. If friendship can span across species, it can span across memories. I promise you, things won't change between the two of you, not for the worst."

Ratchet shook his helm. "I shouldn't have let her meet him. I shouldn't have given her the opportunity to get close. I should have-"

"We all should have done a lot of things." Arcee admitted. "But now the best thing we can do is get her medical attention."

June Darby pulled into base moments later, a hand on her mouth as she ran to the pod and got a good look inside.

"What happened?"

"I can explain everything later." Arcee assured her. "And you have nothing to worry about, Jack and the others are safe. Right now, we need to get Dana to a place where she can receive treatment."

June nodded, running back to her car. "Get her out of there, carefully. Place her in here." She opened up the back of her car, getting ready to arrange the seats.

"No, use me." Ratchet transformed into his alternate mode, opening the back doors. "I can use my sirens to get around traffic and get you to the hospital."

Arcee nodded, slowly sliding her servo underneath Dana's body and carefully taking her out, something not feeling right to the femme. Her body was too malleable, too loose; her skeleton was giving way too much.

How broken is she?

June helped Arcee place the girl on the bed of Ratchet's ambulance, the medic closing his doors and activating his sirens as he sped out of base, Arcee left to watch as he disappeared from sight, turning back to the monitors. She hoped the exchange was going smoothly, her spark now worried for Jack.

Someone let me know what's going on up there.

»«

Ratchet was halfway into the city and headed towards the hospital when he noticed a helicopter keeping up with him, his comlink notifying him that Agent Fowler was attempting contact.

"Agent Fowler." He answered. "I'm trying to take Dana to the-"

"I know, but we've got a problem." Agent Fowler cut him off. "There's been a massive energy reading somewhere close to base, and we're evacuating Jasper in the event that the 'Cons are up to something. I'm sending you coordinates to a military hospital, where they can treat her and your cover doesn't have to be blown. They know all about you. Just keep your sirens on and head that way!"

"How will they know it's me?" Ratchet asked suspiciously. It wouldn't be the first time the human military tried to annihilate the Autobots due to mistaken identity.

"Just ask for a Dr. Jefferson. They'll know it's you." And with that Agent Fowler peeled away, going to investigate what was happening at the Autobot base.

Ratchet worried about his comrades, but he trusted Arcee to take care of things, something decidedly more important laying in the back of his alternate mode. Dana needed him right now, and he wasn't about to abandon her. Not today, not ever. He owed her that.

Within ten minutes and going at a consistent speed of 120 mph, Ratchet made it to the military base Agent Fowler was talking about, beginning to slow down almost half a mile from the base just so he didn't have to screech to a stop at the gates, his lights still flashing. The soldiers opened it for him, one running alongside him and pointing him to the hospital there. As he opened his back doors June jumped out.

"Doctor Jefferson?" She shouted, keeping herself between Dana and the other soldiers. "I need to see Dr. Jefferson, now!"

"He's in the hospital." One of the soldiers replied, peering into the ambulance. "So, you have the . . . Uh, transformer?"

"My name is Ratchet, and yes." The medic replied haughtily. "Now get the doctor out here, she needs medical attention immediately!"

A team of nurses rushed out of the tent with a gurney, a few looking horrified at the excessive bruising and swelling that disfigured the girl's body, getting her into the gurney and wheeling her into the building, an oxygen mask being put over her face while they did so.

"I'm going to make sure she's alright." June told Ratchet. "I'll come back when they have something."

Ratchet moved his tires to indicate he heard, sounding reluctant. "Alright. I'll be out here."

»«

When June was finally allowed to see the girl, it had been four hours since she was taken into the hospital. Both she and Ratchet were yet to be updated on what happened to the Autobots, and the Omega Lock, but Agent Fowler promised to get to them as soon as he possibly could. Right now, they were focused on making sure Dana was alive.

June sat quietly next to the bed they had placed her on, waiting for any indication of life other than breathing. Both of her arms were set in casts, as was one of her legs. Her back, too, was placed in a brace, and the hospital gown revealing more severe bruising on the one leg that was spared.

The doctor had yet to tell June anything, but after lying to Dana's parents and stating that she was in a major car accident whilst trying to evacuate Jasper, Mr. and Mrs. Frederickson provided a digital recording of their oral consent, wanting to know the moment June heard something.

Ratchet was still waiting outside, wanting to hear what happened, and what condition she was in. The Autobot was clearly on edge, but they didn't have the room to allow him inside so he could see his charge. It was during this time he cursed himself for not taking advantage of the holoform technology that was offered during the war, like Arcee had. At least then he could project a part of his conscious into the hospital.

But alas, he would have to be patient.

After another half hour of the silence, with the exception of Dana's heart monitor, Dr. Jefferson returned to the room, clipboard in hand.

"Ms. Darby." He stated quietly. "Are you ready?"

The nurse turned in her chair a little, one hand holding Dana's cast, nodding silently as she gazed at the doctor. "First . . . Will she make it?"

"Yes. As long as her internal bleeding is kept closely monitored and under control, she should survive." He sighed. "But until she wakes up we won't know the severity of the damage. She suffered three concusions, each one in different locations and at different severities. Her brain swelling was severe but we managed to keep it under control; but there is a high possibility that she could have memory loss, or mental deficiencies due to damage." He looked over his notes. "In regards to the rest of her nervous system . . . Several vertebrae were damaged in the accident, T3-T7 sustaining the most damage; but she also sustained nerve cord damage between L4-L5; we suspect that the rolling action which the transformer described to us caused a sort of whiplash-action at her hips, which strained the nerve cord and partially snapped it."

June watched as he paused, the nurse chewing her lip. "Is there a potential for paralysis?" She said, barely a whisper.

"Yes." Dr. Jefferson had a grim look on his face. "Because the damage is to the spinal cord itself, yes. The MRI provided showed us damage, but we're not exactly sure how severe. She may retain some feeling in her hips, or in one leg, but we can expect there to be some form of weakness or paralysis."

June nodded, feeling ill. "What about the rest of her? Her arms, the bruises?"

"Ah, yes," the doctor snapped back to his notes. "Both arms sustained breaks, in her right she has a fractured humerus, the proximal head of her ulna was partially broken off, as was the distal portion of her radius. In her left arm, the humerus was spared, but she suffered two incomplete fractures in her ulna and a complete break on her radius. Her patella in her left leg is shattered; we will be needing to install a metal replacement after her tibia has healed from its fracture, which spans all the way down to her ankle."

June took it all in slowly, using her medical knowledge to place each break.

"We were worried that the bruising on her face indicated a broken jaw or cranium, but that was not the case." Dr. Jefferson continued as he read the notes. "Her ribs also sustained heavy bruising, as did some of her internal organs; however we were able to keep that under control. And though her right leg is not broken, it has been bruised severely. All of this causes potential for blood clots, which we will need to monitor." He glanced at his notes again, pausing.

The nurse waiting for a moment, wondering if he had anything else to say. The pause seemed to carry on for some time. "Is there anything else, doctor?"

"Well, yes." He looks up at her, lips in a thin line. "Due to her age and no known history, we ran a blood test in order to gauge the severity of her injuries and how they could affect . . . A potential outcome."

"A potential outcome?" June asked in confusion, brow furrowing. "What was the blood test, and what did it say?"

"We ran an hCG, or Human Chorionic Gonadtropin." Dr. Jefferson spoke slowly. "Which is produced when a woman is pregnant or has been pregnant recently."

June felt her throat constrict. "What was the result?"

He looked at his notes. "Positive. And it estimates the fetus to be around three months old." His eyes met hers, looking just as worried as she. "With these injuries, the pregnancy could lead to a miscarriage, if the fetus has not already passed."

Other, more pressing questions were swirling around in June's head. Dana, pregnant? She's never mentioned a boyfriend before, much less having any sexual encounters. Not that she was obligated to tell me, but I never thought . . .

"And if she has lost all feelin in her hips, that will complicate things even more." The doctor continued. "Because it is so early, an ultrasound will be unable to tell us if the fetus also sustained damage." There was another pause. "That is all we have for her at the moment."

"Thank you, doctor." June nodded, telling him without words that it was time for him to leave her in peace. Her hand returned to rest on the girl's, looking at her and trying to figure out who it could have possibly been. And then a name crossed her mind.

Could they-? Is it even possible? What if . . . But she never seemed to see him that way. But I suppose I've never asked. But still, just thinking about it . . . There's no way. But even if it's not him, he's probably the only one who would know the father.

June bit her lip, then stood up in her chair.

It couldn't hurt to ask.

So she left Dana to herself, and went to go find Ratchet.