"It's been a long day without you my friend,
And I'll tell you all about it when I see you again"

»«

"Dana!" June shrieked, and the girl jumped in shock, almost dropping her phone. "Hang up the phone, now!"

"I'm not calling anyone." She responded, confused. "I'm listening to my voicemails. I got thirty missed calls and ten messages from my mom." And someone labeled "Ratchet." She added silently, not wanting to tell June. "I'm just listening, promise."

June sighed in relief, leaning against the doorway. After a brief pause, she looked at the young woman. "Do I need to give you some privacy?"

"Yeah. You can wait outside the door if you want." Dana offered a smile. "I read the note; I'm not calling anyone."

"Alright, alright. Yell if you need anything." June took a breath the moment she stepped out and closed the door. The last thing they needed was Decepticons coming to strike down to hospital, or worse, have Megatron come finish the job. The nurse resisted a shudder that threatened to run down her spine.

"Dana, it's mom. Where are you? They're evacuating Jasper - there's been some sort of meteor strike, or something. Please call me back. Please pick up."

"Dana, please answer the phone! Please." Her eyes watered a little as she heard her mother crying. "Your father just got here and your brother is with a friend. I don't know where you are. The military promises they got everyone out, but I can't find you. Dana, just pick up."

"She must be so worried." Dana murmured, realizing that she hadn't contacted her family, they only had June's words to go by. "I'm sorry mom . . ."

"Just please don't be dead." Was the final message from her mother. "Dana, I love you. Please don't be dead."

Something briefly surfaced in Dana's mind. She had been in danger, and in a place where she couldn't answer her phone. During the evacuation of Jasper she had been elsewhere . . . Tempting fate . . .

The next six messages were from a "Ratchet," which she considered an odd name and could not recall. The messages were several hours, and sometimes days, apart, and she suspected that she had been ignoring the caller, judging by the dates the messages were sent. Who were they?

"Dana . . ." It was instantly obvious that the caller was male. "I know that you're angry with me, and though I am angry with you too . . . I'm sorry." That was it, the entire message.

She frowned, selecting the next one. Why was he apologizing?

"It's me again. I . . . The 'sorry' wasn't enough. I'm more than sorry. As much as I want you back at base, I think that for now it is best that you remain away from it, and especially away from Megatron." The odd name sent a familiar thrill down her spine, and she sat up a little straighter. "But my yelling was uncalled for, as was my word choice. I could have said things better, and in a much calmer tone. The look on your face when you left . . . It is something I never want to see again. If you could call me back, or at least acknowledge that you heard this voicemail, it will help my spark rest easy tonight. I didn't mean to hurt you."

Dana could vaguely recall having a nasty argument with someone, and the name Megatron was familiar, as odd as it was. Was this "Ratchet" referring to some kind of company? It kind of sounded like an evil corporation. She hit the next one, which was exactly twenty-four hours after the last one.

"Dana, please." The man sounded a little desperate. "I don't want this to be something that divides us. It was a stupid argument, we shouldn't have even had it. Yes, I let you go on that mission, so I am partially responsible. But I'm afraid for you. I care too much than I probably should, but I don't want to see you get hurt. You've become a good friend and partner. I don't want to lose you."

Her eyes watered a little more as the voice of a broken man spoke to her. She couldn't even remember him, just vague recollections of sitting in an ambulance and talking to . . . Someone, she assumed was him. But she couldn't put together a face.

The other two messages were similar, and then she got to the sixth.

"You're in a coma right now. Nurse Darby says you're in critical condition and the doctors aren't sure what will happen when you wake up - if you wake up." Ratchet took a deep breath. "I don't know if I've come to terms with losing you. I don't want to. I want you to wake up and for everything to be alright. As a medic, guardian, and friend, I have failed you. My one job was to protect you, and I couldn't even do that.

"If I don't get the chance to say this when you wake up, I'll say it now, even though it's incredibly unlikely that you'll hear this: I do not regret any of the time we spent together. As annoyed by your presence as I may have seemed, or as uninterested as I may have been, I would rather live those moments over and over than live the one moment where I learn that I've lost you." There was a pause, and a shaky breath, before he continued. "Maybe during those instances, this old mech would learn a thing or two about living in the moment with a person you care about.

"When I first met you I was disappointed, even angry, that I had to deal with a human - even more so for a human that was twice as bad as Miko when it came to sneaking off. But you've showed me that, for every human, there is more than meets the eye. You're incredibly clever, intuitive, and willing to learn. You're surprisingly optimistic, even during our darkest times. Your interest in my species has shown me that you are also empathetic, even compassionate at times. You have the heart of a nurse, and the soul of someone who has lived a Cybertronian lifetime. As short as your lifespan may be, you fill every second with something to do, or something new. You don't waste a single drop of the time you have. As someone who will barely age as you grow old and frail, I sometimes wish that I had the same lifespan, if only so I can fill it as vastly as you have."

By now Dana was crying, a cast over her mouth to muffle the quiet breaths of air and soft noises of pain, her cheeks wet and vision blurred as she listened. Her heart ached for Ratchet, and she so desperately wanted to see him. She had no idea what their previously relationship was - though he alluded to it, she couldn't quite understand - but she was willing to rebuild it, regardless of her memories.

The message continued.

"If you are listening to this, I know you're probably thinking that I'm being silly, being this emotional and . . . As you put it, 'cheesy.' But I don't want you to leave this world thinking that our argument was the last of us. I still care very much about you, and I wish I had the courage to say these things to your face. If . . . If this is indeed the end, if you are to become one with the Allspark . . ." His words caught in his throat for a long time, and at first Dana thought she had accidentally ended the message, but a quick check told her she still had thirty seconds left. "I will never forget you. I will never want to forget you. You've become not just a friend, but a partner. You're more than just a human, you're an Autobot. And I just want to say . . . Thank you. For everything." There was a long pause, and then the phone beeped, indicating that the message was over.

Dana sat in silence for a long time, tenderly moving her arms, which were still in a cast. It had been an effort to get the phone working, but the wait as killing her. She had to know who called her. And now the woman had a vague recollection.

"June!" She called, and she must have sounded desperate, because the Nurse burst right in.

"What is it? What's wrong?" June came over and offered her a tissue, which she used to dab at her cheeks.

Dana blew into the tissue briefly before she looked at the Nurse. "I want to see Ratchet."

June sighed. "I want you to wait until you have braces, that way you are more mobile. And in a wheelchair."

"Can he not come see me?" The young woman demanded.

The nurse paused for a brief moment, not sure how to answer. "No . . ." She said slowly. "Do you not know who he is?"

"Not entirely." Dana replied. "But I still want to meet him. I have a vague recollection, but I need to know."

"When you can get into your wheelchair, I will allow it. I promise." June gently touched her wrist, making sure the woman knew that she meant it. Because she did mean it; she just didn't want to give Dana the illusion that she was lying.

Dana finally nodded. "Okay."

»«

After a week, Dana was cleared for the wheelchair and braces. During that time she had listened to Ratchet over and over, trying to remember his face, but to no avail. June made good on her promise, and as soon as Dana was in the appropriate braces, the nurse brought the wheelchair in.

"Let me help you, at least for the first time." June said, carefully manipulating Dana's legs into an easier position to get her into the chair.

The young woman nodded, looking a bit unhappy as she allowed June to help her, arranging her legs so they looked semi-normal and comfortable in the chair, adjust her hips with some effort, leaning back in her chair and letting June push her, as she wasn't allowed to use her arms for much until the braces were off. One wrong move could still snap the brittle bone again.

June took her outside, where a familiar ambulance sat parked. There was an odd emblem on it, and it tugged at her memory for a long time before her eyes widened a bit, an impossible thought entering her mind.

"Ratchet . . ." She breathed.

Almost immediately the ambulance began to shift and move, becoming a humanoid robotic figure that stood about twenty feet, maybe more, tall. Bright blue eyes - optics - looked down at her, the face set in an expression filled with relief, content, sadness, and regret. She immediately put a face to the name.

And all her memories came crashing back.

"Oh my . . . Allspark." Her face became white as sheet as it all came rushing back, months worth of memories flooding into her brain and demanding attention, most of them happy, but it was just so overwhelming.

"Dana?!" Ratchet asked in confusion as her eyes rolled up into the back of her head, the last thing she remembered before she passed out.

»«

"What happened?!"

"She just took one look at Ratchet and passed out."

"Is she okay?"

"Her blood pressure must have skyrocketed when she saw him, we're getting very high readings even now. Did she say anything before becoming unconscious?"

"No, nothing."

Dana opened her eyes and gasped softly, coming to life almost as suddenly as she had fainted. Her mind was still filled with memories, but in the time she had been under her brain had taken the time to sort through it all again. She remembered everything, from the moment she first met the Autobots to when . . .

To when Megatron tried to kill me.

She grit her teeth, suddenly becoming very angry.

That . . . That bastard!

"Dana, how are you feeling?" June was leaning over her, eyebrows furrowed in concern. Agent Fowler was at the foot of her bed, and Dr. Jefferson was busy taking her vitals across from where June was.

"I'm . . . I'm fine." She sat up a little more. "I just . . . I remember it, all of it. The Autobots, Ratchet, the Decepticons . . ." She took a deep breath.

"That could explain the elevated blood pressure." Dr. Jefferson noted. "A flood of memories must have overwhelmed you."

Dana nodded. "It did." She looked out the windows for a moment, frowning when she realized they were closed. "Where is Ratchet?"

"He's outside." Agent Fowler provided. "He feels awful about what happened."

"I need to see him." She insisted. "I listened to his messages, and I have to talk to him."

"Not until you get that blood pressure under control." Nurse Darby scolded a little. "You're in the middle of healing. Elevated BP isn't going to help anything."

Dana huffed as she sat back in her pillow. "I feel like it would be elevated regardless if I saw him or not."

"You need rest." She insisted. "I will tell Ratchet you got his messages, and would like to talk to him."

"Thank you." Dana began to painfully recall their argument, and with each passing moment she couldn't help but feel it was necessary that she and Ratchet talked, and had a real conversation. She had been an idiot to ignore him and be angry for so long. He was probably more worried now than ever.

June shot Agent Fowler a knowing look, and as soon as Dr. Jefferson got everything he needed, the three adults left, for the time being. Dana suspected that the nurse and Agent were discussing something, but she wouldn't ask unless she felt it was necessary to know what about her they were talking about; because why else would they be speaking in private?

She settled back in her bed, staring up at the ceiling. At least Ratchet could now confirm that she was alive and well, but her parents . . . Her parents were still painfully in the dark, as far as she could tell. Obviously, the how of her injuries would need to be a lie, but she so desperately wanted to let them know she was alive.

Her gaze drifted to her phone.

How fast could Soundwave pick up my number, especially with thousands, if not millions, of calls happening at any one instance? And Megatron probably thinks I'm dead, so what are the odds that they are even keeping tabs on my number?

Dana thought for a while on what to do. There was a risk to calling, but she felt cruel to leave her parents out of the loop. At the very least, they would want to hear her voice. And with everything going on, her mom probably had her phone turned off to conserve battery; so the call would go straight to voicemail.

She frowned, torn between what to do. Follow June's instructions, or actually give her family some peace?

Do the pros outweigh the cons?