Disclaimer: I don’t own anyone.

As he crawled through the Autobots ventilation system he tried not to think about what his superior officers would do to him if they found out what he was doing. Megatron had prohibited him from making himself visible to any of the Autobots – or the humans that were currently visiting him. Most times he would shrug it off and wait a bit before visiting his human. The recording that Laserbeak had brought back though had changed his mind.

It hadn’t shown anything that would change the dynamics of the war. No, instead it had shown his female, lying on a bed, eyes closed and more wires connected to her body then was good for one of her species. Her eyes had been puffy with tears and she had clutched something that vaguely looked like it just might be a crudely made doll. In the right light it might even resemble him a bit. In the corner, the wretched Autobot medic and his two assistants were talking. Words were being said along the lines of, “condition not improving”, “given up the fight”, and most disturbing of all, “not been the same since that cassette was destroyed.”

That had been all he needed to know. She was getting worse. She thought he was gone. Getting out of the base had been difficult, almost as much as getting past all the security the Autobots put up, but finally, he was at the vent that overlooked the med-bay. His optics finally fell on his destination. From here it looked as though she hadn’t moved from the position she had occupied when the video was made. With a slight frown, seeing the figure look so still and small, he began to detach the vent from the wall.

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Ratchet had gone to a meeting with the other officers. With only one patient in residence, First Aid had gone to spend some time with his brothers. This had left Swoop alone in the med-bay with her. He hated to see civilians suffer, especially her. In her short time there she had proven to be excellent at giving out scratches. Her fingers just always seemed to find those hard to reach spots that were impossible to reach without someone’s help. Unlike the rest of the dinobots, who spoke mainly of destroying Decepticons and who had the higher kill score, she spoke of peace. She asked what each would do once the war was over, causing even Grimlock to ponder what would happen in the future. The future was not something the dinobots liked to think of. They had been made for war, forged in its hot fires, dipped time and again to cool in waves of their enemies’ leaking energon.

She wasn’t perfect though, far from it. There was that odd obsession she had over one of Soundwave’s cassettes. First Aid believed that it showed just how much a tumor could affect the human mind. After all, what good could lie in a Decepticon spark? Grimlock tolerated her moping about and had decided that it was the dinobots who would help the confused and obviously glitching human. It had seemed to work, for a while. She would forget her little cassette for periods of time while she was within their fold. But then there had been the battle.

It was bound to happen; Autobots and Decepticons had fought for ages. Of course her little cassette would come to his master’s aid springing out of Soundwave’s chest compartment like a cut jack-in-the-box. Sludge had just done his job by stomping back at the cassette. The cassette might even have made it out of the way if it hadn’t been for a carefully placed shot from Cliffjumper. It hadn’t been anyone’s fault that Rumble had fallen into the lava underneath.

Dinobots were not known for their tact, but even Swoop had been able to see that the woman had not been told the right way about her lover’s demise. Why she went to the victory celebration when she loved the enemy was beyond him. It had been in full swing by the time she had wandered in, face pale, teeth clenched, fists tightened. Her spark had obviously not been in the mood to celebrate. Swoop had known she was simply looking for information on her cassette, only then would she allow herself to celebrate. She had been on her way over to them, to him in particular. He had promised he would try to see what happened to her cassette in any battle. That was when Cliffjumper had caught her arm. Half drunk off energon, he had pulled her towards him. The woman had tried to shove him away but Cliffjumper had pulled her closer, leaned down, and whispered in her ear her lover’s fate.

The wail of grief had brought the party to a halt.  The wail hadn’t lasted long. Apparently humans needed air to properly attack, and attack she did. Fists and feet had been a blurred of movement, hands had reached out, attempting to strangle air from a throat that needed no air. Swoop had reached down, picked her up, and left the party. The woman had struggled for a while before beginning to sob. He had attempted to console her, telling her how bravely her cassette had died, but the information had only seem to make matters worse.

After a few human hours the tears had stopped, only to be replaced by a glazed look in her eyes and silence. He had thought that was good at first and left her at the entrance to her room. When he had gone back later that night to check on her, he found her door still stood open, and she stood where she had been left. He had tucked her into bed and gone to talk to the other humans. She hadn’t left the bed since.

Swoop dimmed his optics. By all reports, she should have been responding to the chemo- instead she seemed to sink further away from everyone as the tumor growing larger. She had stopped eating and been hooked up to an I.V. just a week ago. If something didn’t happen soon, she wouldn’t make it.

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“Hey kiddo,” the voice brought her out of a dream of strong arms that held her tight.

“Mmmm, Rumble,” she moved her head away from the voice, wanting to go back to her dream of her lover.

A hand reached out and caressed her face. “Come on doll, wake up. It’s me.”

Her face turned into the caress and nuzzled the hand. “My Rumble.”

There was a light laugh. “That’s right. Come on sweets, open your eyes.”

Lazily her eyes opened to spot the impossible. Her Rumble stood beside her bed, one hand on her face, a smirk on his face. “Miss me?”

With a cry of delight she threw herself into his arms.

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Swoop’s sonar went off as he detected a Decepticon. Pulling his weapon from subspace he charged it and silently entered the med-bay. From his position everything looked okay, there was nothing evident but the small cloth enclosure where the human rested.  A cry broke the silence and drew him to the human. Moving forward he was just able to see inside. As he watched, the cassette gently helped the woman lay back down.

“Don’t waste your strength.” He fluffed the pillow behind her with one hand. The girl had confiscated the other with both her hands and didn’t seem like she would let go.

“This can’t be real. Cliffjumper said that-“

“- since when did Cliffjumper know anything?” The cassette smiled at her, brought one of her hands up and placed a gentle kiss on each knuckle. “Ain’t that rotten Autobot I came here for. Heard you weren’t cooperating with the chemo..that you refused to eat.”

The woman blushed and looked down. “Wasn’t hungry.”

The cassette smirked at her. “Well you should be now, and I got just the thing for ya.” With a flourish he opened up his subspace compartment and brought out a thermos. “Chicken noodle. Read that humans take it when they’re sick.”

This time it was the woman’s turn to smirk. “Too weak to lift a spoon. I’ll have to wait for some nice bot to come around and spoon feed me.”

“Brat, all you had to do was ask.” As Swoop watched, the cassette sat down on the mattress and dug into subspace, this time producing a spoon. As he lifted the first spoonful to her lips, Rumble began talking. None of it was useful information from the Autobot point of view, but it seemed to sooth the woman. He told her of the daily lives of Soundwave and the other cassettes, of the pranks he had been playing on the others in his base. At her instance he told her how several of the Decepticons were including the Stunticons, the Constructicons, and the seekers.

Swoop lowered his weapon. The cassette was bringing more life to the woman than he had seen her show in weeks. Maybe he could ignore his presence- just this once. He would make sure though that the girl was not injured. The dinobot kept sentry as the human finished the soup.

When it was all finished the cassette leaned over and kissed her forehead. “Get some sleep. I gotta git.”

The woman’s eyes widened. “No. Please- please stay, just until I wake up. Don’t want you to be just a dream.” Her arms had encircled one of his. “Please Rumble.”

“Can’t deny a pretty request like that, can I?” The cassette kissed her hand again. “Come on doll, get some rest.”

A blush spread over the woman’s face as she asked her next question, “Will you lay down beside me?”

“Don’t have to ask me twice.” The cassetticon  was quickly under the covers with her, gently lifting his human so that none of the wires caused her pain. “Now will ya sleep?” He pulled the covers up to the woman’s chin.

“Now I can sleep you mean,” The woman snuggled up against him, a content smile on her face. “Remember- don’t leave until I wake up.” She placed a kiss on his chest piece.

“Wouldn’t dream of it,” he kissed the top of her head and wrapped his arms around her. “Just don’t ever scare me like that again.”

Eyes already closed, the woman nodded her head. “Long as you don’t ever make me think you’re dead,” she slurred. A soft snore soon followed.

“Yo, Autobot. You ain’t thinking of calling anyone, are ya? I swear not to try anything. She needs me right now.”

Swoop’s eyes widen. He hadn’t known he had been observed, but then again it was hard to hide from creatures that only came up to his knees. What could he do? In the end he gave the only answer open to him. “Swoop not tell.”