The Witch and the Robot (ABANDONED STORY)

Chapter 14 - The Nurse

With everyone returned somewhat safely to base, Ratchet got to work on tending to what few injuries there were. Optimus wanted to thank Alice for her help, but when he saw her lying in bed, he decided to leave her be, thinking it just took a lot out of her to protect them the way that she did, though, at a second glance he saw the other kids gathered somewhat nearby, talking about something and frequently glancing at Alice. Optimus was clear of wounds, so he went closer to the human area, looking at the three kids with a raised brow. He said nothing at first, waiting for the kids to finish their conversation, but it ended quickly once they noticed the Prime standing there, observing them.

"Hey, Optimus." Jack would casually greet before rubbing the back of his head, unsure about how to ask about more detailed events in the mines without giving away that Alice was hurt spiritually by something. "What exactly happened in the mines?" Jack asked, deciding that outright might be the best way to do it. Optimus was about to answer when he saw Raf on the verge of tears, glancing at Alice a little too often, this made him furrow his brows and look closer at Alice's area, the candles were put out around her rug, but nothing was put away, which seemed to be unusual for her, as she was quite the clean person from what he had come to know.

"I would imagine you are referring to the assistance provided by Alice?" Optimus inquired, seeming somewhat concerned, he knew that between Ratchet and listening to the comms themselves, they knew everything that was going on otherwise, and he wasn't certain if Alice explained what was going to happen on her end of things. Jack and the other kids would just nod at first, but Raf would look at Optimus and step forwards, hugging himself a little bit out of concern.

"Alice got hurt by something that happened... she was bleeding a lot." Raf admitted. The other two older kids would look away in shame for not being able to outright say that Alice was hurt. Optimus grew concerned, but he steeled his facial expressions as he looked at Alice, unable to reach her to turn her over to look.

"What happened?" Optimus would ask, wanting more details as he looked at the older kids, knowing that Raf was smart but emotional, it would be tough for the younger kid to explain without breaking into scared tears for his friend.

Jack would be the one to talk, as he had done the brief medical assessment to make sure she at least didn't need to go to the hospital while the bots were still in the mines. "I don't know what she did or what caused it, but near the end of her helping out, she just started screaming and bleeding from the nose and eyes. I don't think she needs to go to the hospital, but I'm not a doctor." Jack admitted, looking down in shame. He felt like he had let Optimus down by letting her get hurt, by letting her try to help. Jack knew he had the opportunity to stop her, but he didn't, none of them did, because they wished that they could be in her shoes and actually have a means of helping the Bots in such a tense time.

Optimus would frown deeply. "Can you wake her?" He asked as that would, to him, determine if she needed to see a medical professional. If they couldn't wake her up, it meant that something had to be seriously wrong. Jack would simply nod and go over to Alice, grabbing her by the shoulder and shaking her gently to try and wake her up, though nothing happened. If Fowler found out about this, he would take her from their protective care. Jack, however, growing concerned seemed to realize this as well and would stand up, having an idea.

"I can bring her to my house, my mom is a nurse and should be able to help her unless it's really bad. I'll just tell her that she can't go to the hospital because she doesn't have insurance." Jack would say, looking to the bots who had now gathered with a general concern for the human girl as well. Jack seemed to know what he was talking about, and his reasoning made sense, though Optimus being concerned for his charge would have Bee come to him.

"Bumblebee will drive you there, Arcee will follow. Check in with her periodically so I can be updated on Alice's status." Optimus would say calmly, though inside he was worried, thinking that he was losing his charge because of what he suspected was Megatron's doing. Jack would simply give a nod and go to grab Alice, picking her up carefully and with a slight grunt, and carrying her down to where Bee was waiting with his door open. Jack would lay her down in the back seat and hop in the front, Arcee ready to follow. Ratchet would activate a bridge to get them closer to Jasper so Alice wouldn't have as much opportunity to be jostled badly.

Getting back to Jack's house, he would carry Alice inside and give his mom a call, as she was at work. "Hey mom, it's me." Jack would say as she picked up, checking Alice's pupils once again, as that was all he knew to check for, only to see that the white of her eyes had turned red, indicating that she had burst a blood vessel in them, though she wasn't actively bleeding any longer.

"Jack, is everything okay? You never call me during work." June, Jack's mother would respond, only having picked up because it was Jack, otherwise, she would have left it to go to voice mail.

"No, Mom. I need you to come home as soon as you can. I've got a friend who needs help, and they don't have insurance. I can't bring her to the hospital." Jack partially lied, praying that his mother didn't get suspicious. If she did, he didn't know how he would explain anything to her without revealing the bots.

June would be silent in shock, not expecting such a call from her son during the work day. "I'm on my way, is she bleeding badly? Broken bones? What's the matter?" June would ask as she began working on getting herself free from work, rushing through the hospital as fast as she could without running.

"I... I don't know. She just started screaming and then bleeding from the nose and eyes, and now she won't wake up. Her eyes are bloodshot but her pupils aren't blown." Jack explained honestly, unsure as to how he would explain to his mother that Alice was a true witch and that she had been doing something to help the bots when something seemed to happen spiritually. He had to keep some of this from her, but he knew that she would help Alice, and he could answer questions after.

"Well, until I get there, if you haven't already, clean the blood off her with some warm water and keep her comfortable. I'm on my way." June repeated herself before hanging up, needing to talk with her supervisor to get free for the rest of the day so she could help her son's friend.

Jack would do as his mother said, cleaning Alice up some with a warm washcloth and propping her head up some with a pillow so she was comfortable. The wait felt like hours before his mother got home, but she came rushing in with a few things that she had borrowed from the hospital to help, knowing that this could be anything, she came prepared for much, even keeping her car keys on her just in case she needed to rush Alice to the hospital anyway for surgery.

June immediately took out a small flashlight and checked Alice's pupils once more, just making sure that Jack didn't miss anything, before checking her pulse and using a small hand pump attached to a blood pressure cuff, checked her blood pressure to make sure everything was looking good. Seeing her bloodshot eyes and the remnants of blood around her nostrils and close to her eyes, June would take Jack into the garage to talk to him and let the poor girl rest in peace.

June would put her hands on her son's shoulders, looking at him sadly. She felt bad that his friend had done this to herself, but she needed to know what the girl had been doing so she could check for other injuries. "Jack, I know you're worried about your friend, but you need to tell me what she was doing before this happened, I need to know where else to look for injuries." June said seriously, holding her boy firmly, letting him know how worried even she was.

"Nothing you'd believe." Jack muttered, he had already tried once to explain things seriously to his mother, and she thought he was in some science-fiction club. "She just... pushed her limits a bit too hard." Jack would try to explain, only for his mother to make a face, wondering what her sixteen-year-old child was doing with this clearly somewhat older girl that he was afraid to talk about to her that would push someone's physical limits that hard. "Nothing like that!" Jack would quickly interrupt her thoughts, shaking his head some before resting his forehead in his hand.

June would breathe a sigh of relief and hug her son, she had to trust him for now, she could scold him later when the girl woke up and everything was okay. Arcee was sitting in the garage like she always was, though she had her comms working so that the base could hear what was going on. June would look back at Jack as she backed away, looking at the door that lead back inside the house for a moment before back to her son. "She seems like she's just exhausted, do you know when she slept last? I've only seen this in people who haven't slept for weeks, months even, that have then tried to push their bodies to work." June asked calmly, trying to figure out what was wrong.

Jack shrugged, he knew she slept recently, she had to have, he knew it wasn't that, but there was no way his mother would believe the truth. For now, it was best that he look like he knew nothing more than the very basics. "Well, I think she'll be okay with some rest, but if she doesn't wake up tomorrow, I'll have to get her some fluids to make sure she doesn't get worse." June would sigh, letting her son go before going inside to check the girl over once more. She was only able to get her lunch break off early, so she would soon have to return to work.

Jack would glance at Arcee and sigh as well, he hoped that Fowler wouldn't be coming in to check on Alice anytime soon, otherwise he had no idea as to where she would be taken, and how she would be treated by the military. Everything would hopefully clear up the next day once Alice had some rest, either way, it seemed that everything would be fine, and Jack would have to return Alice to base before Fowler showed up.

Jack headed inside to get some rest after such a long day, though he wouldn't be able to sleep, wondering what the future looked like for his friend, knowing that it was partially his fault that she got into this mess to begin with, because he couldn't just improve his mood. He blamed himself for this. He knew that the others would try and dispute his thoughts, but he couldn't help but think this way. Alice was found out by the military because of him, and now she wasn't even allowed to see her father, who she clearly cared deeply about.