One Day At a Time ✔️

Ch. 50 Nightmare

Crosshairs’ P.O.V.
I don’t think Ratchet thought Drift would pass out. I sit on the floor, holding him. Sideswipe is horrified he caused this. Even I can’t believe what Sideswipe figured out, but it makes sense.
“Then how is she ok with a bath?” Sunstreaker asks.
“I suspect they used a swimming pool rather than a tub,” Ratchet explains.
This topic makes us feel so sick, but we need to continue the discussion and figure out if we can help Jamie, but later, as we agree Drift is having the hardest time with this. We’ll continue to talk about this tomorrow when Jamie is taking a nap. Ratchet is hoping after he does a health exam.
It’s hard to get Drift to calm down when he wakes up. We worry either he or Jamie will have nightmares tonight, but we can’t separate them. Then they’ll panic, not seeing the other.

I didn’t think Sideswipe would wait in the hallway until Drift fell asleep.
“I’m sorry, I—.”
“It’s not your fault. As heartbreaking as it is, it’s a good thing you figured this out. I hope this will not be a challenge to deal with.”
“I’m feeling like Sunstreaker and would love to go after Megatron. We lost the Jamie we know and love. Add how this hurts you two.”
“You know this has affected everyone. It’s still strange seeing how worried Sunstreaker is. All my we can do is figure out how to help Jamie recover. Hopefully, we get the Jamie we know and love back.”
“You sure I shouldn’t stay here? Not sure if Sunstreaker will stay here.”
“No, I don’t think it’ll be a good idea for you two to be in the room.”
Sideswipe isn’t liking he can’t stay, but goes to his room.
I sit on my bed, looking at my sleeping friends, worried about which one is going to have a nightmare. I need to stay awake tonight.

Jamie’s nightmare
“Time for the last resort,” one doctor says.
My arms and legs are tied up and my mouth is taped shut before I’m dragged to a room.  
They then tie me to a pillar, but it’s not one holding the roof up. This one is being held by a smaller version of a crane.
“Do it now,” the doctor who tied me up says.
The pillar is raised and I see a swimming pool.
They are hoping this way will kill me. If that’s their goal, then I don’t know why they keep submerging me and pulling me out of the water.

Crosshairs’ P.O.V.
It doesn’t matter which one of my friends wakes up, but for Jamie to wake up afraid she’s not getting air in is not great. I lay her on my bed, trying to get her to calm down as she tries to take off the oxygen tube. I’m worried she’ll pull the trach out as well.
“Stop, you’re safe,” I’m trying not to restrain her arms, knowing how frightened she is, “let me put this on.”
I don’t know if I should keep her on oxygen or if it doesn’t matter, but I think having the speaking valve will help her. I move the oxygen concentrator closer in case this doesn’t go well, put the oximeter on her finger and then the speaking valve on the trach before hugging her. Jamie tries to cry quietly to avoid waking Drift, but I know she wants him to be the one hugging her. I don’t dare take Jamie for a walk while Drift is asleep. 
She will not go back to sleep easily.
I get her tablet and headphones. Hoping she’ll at least lie on my bed and eventually fall asleep.

I’m happy Drift hasn’t had a nightmare, but now it’s midnight and Jamie is trying to fight going to sleep. I hate seeing her terrified to go back to sleep. I’m hoping laying on me will help. It’s a challenge to get situated with the oxygen tube and get her tablet to stay in a position where Jamie can watch T.V. until she falls asleep. I’m not sure if she’ll fall asleep without a distraction. The tablet volume is low as I’m not having her use headphones. Hoping my heartbeat will relax her. It’s an hour before Jamie is asleep.

Drift’s P.O.V.
Waking up to see Jamie sleeping on Crosshairs is not a good sight, considering the current situation. This means she had a nightmare, and he had to comfort her, but why didn’t he wake me up? How difficult was she?
I go take a shower, hoping Crosshairs will be up when I walk out of the bathroom.

Crosshairs moved Jamie onto his bed, and his tube feeding her as I walk out of the bathroom.
“Don’t even,” he immediately says, “you’re exhausted, and she’s my friend too. I don’t like how afraid she was to go back to sleep.”
“She’s terrified to go swimming. Something she loved to do last year.”
“We can talk to Ratchet later. I think we can fix this, but slowly.”
“I am so tired of this. Watching her struggle and new challenges keep popping up. How long before she tries to run off and—?”
“Somebot is always with her. As long as it’s not Sideswipe alone, she cannot leave.”
It’s getting harder to think Jamie can recover. That we’ve lost the girl we know and love.

As planned, the terror twins stay in our room while Jamie is asleep. We know they’d like to be part of the discussion, but they’ve been involved s lot that Crosshairs and I will tell them about the meeting. We’re hoping Jamie won’t have a nightmare while we’re gone.

Sunstreaker’s P.O.V.
Sideswipe finds it strange that I’m worried about Jamie that I’ll sit and watch her sleep. Even if there’s now distrust in letting Sideswipe watch Jamie alone.
“I kinda wish she was a child,” Sideswipe tells me.
“What the frag?!”
“She might be easier to distract with toys. I don’t know if it would help her recovery —.”
“It would be more fragged up if this happened when Jamie was a kid. It’s disgusting this happened period! I fear we’ve lost the Jamie we all know and love. I can only imagine how hurt Drift is feeling and even Crosshairs.”

Jamie’s guardians return a half-hour later. There’s potentially good news; we can get Jamie to not be afraid to go in the pool, but it’ll take time. Crosshairs worries there’s nothing we can do considering how frightened Jamie was after having a nightmare last night, and while we don’t know what it was about; we can figure it’s likely about the pool. We plan on going to the pool room after lunch. Hoping Jamie will at least put her feet in the water like yesterday.
“Oh, I forgot I did this before picking up dinner last night,” I tell the two mechs as I get the three framed pieces of art from my subspace. They know it’s the art Jamie and I worked on at the park, “should I get McDonald’s again for lunch?”
“No, but you can get more cookies from Panera Bread. That’s a little better than McDonald’s,” Drift tells me.
Sideswipe and I leave the room, hoping this afternoon will be better than last night.