Without a Word-a TFP Ratchet Guardian Fanfic (Completed)

Chapter 9

Ratchet returned after a few minutes, looking a little better. He checked Optimus' vitals and redid some things he had hurriedly and sloppily done in the cave. Jack never left Optimus' side, and Ratchet wasn't going to throw him off the berth to get his work done...hopefully.

Once Ratchet was content with Optimus' condition enough to not hover over him every minute, he reached into his subspace, pulling out a first aid kit and handed it to Raf.

"I think the others need this," he explained, gesturing to us and all the cuts we had from Bumblebee's shattered window. I looked at my arm where the bandage Miko had wrapped over my scraped arm (when Ratchet ran over me) was falling off.

Raf nodded, going over to Miko and taking out a small bottle and pouring some of it's contents on a cotton ball. He handed it to her, and she started dabbing at a small cut on her arm, wincing when it stung a little. Raf did the same to Jack, who merely ignored the cotton ball. Miko grabbed it and roughly swiped it over his cuts. He didn't even flinch.

"Jack, it wasn't your fault," Arcee said in a comforting manner, noticing his behavior.

"I could've prevented this." was Jack's reply. Arcee shrugged.

"It's war, Jack. It's what happens."

"I had a chance to defeat your greatest enemy, the whole reason your planet was destroyed, the whole reason you were fighting this war, and I didn't take it!" Jack shouted, throwing his hands up in the air.

"Jack, please, Optimus is trying to recover..." Ratchet pleaded softly.

"Because of me!" Jack shot back. "Optimus nearly died because of me!"

"Jack, Megatron was playing you. He knew you wouldn't have done it, he was manipulating you into believing it would be your fault for anything that happened to Optimus," Arcee explained, trying to reassure him.

"How do you know what happened? You weren't there," Jack shot back.

"Neither were we, Jack. But we heard him talk about it. Arcee is right; it wasn't your fault," Miko replied, placing a hand on Jack's shoulder.

I stayed awkwardly off to the side. I wasn't there, and I only knew Jack for two days; I wasn't really the best choice to comfort someone. What was I supposed to "say", anyway? "I'm sorry, even though I don't really know what happened or what's going on, it wasn't your fault?"

Besides, you don't sound very comforting on paper.

I exhaled slowly, leaning against a wall a little farther away from the others and shoved my hands into my pockets. I watched Ratchet check Optimus' vitals as the others either talked amongst themselves or tried to help Jack. I caught a few pieces of conversations, but I really just found myself dozing off.

"He induced Stasis himself...don't know when he'll wake up..."

"Bucket Head really did a number on him...sorry, Jack..."

"Jack, lighten up..."

"Spark pulse is good...Energon levels are good...

I couldn't stay awake any longer and slid to the floor, closing my eyes and letting sleep overtake me.

***

I woke up to the soft humming of an engine. I cracked an eyelid open and noticed I was moving, and I was sitting inside Ratchet's alt. mode. I looked over to my left, finding my pack and my notebook sitting on the driver's seat. I lazily picked it up.

"Oh, you're up. Good, I didn't know how I was going to wake you," Ratchet's voice filled the car, making me jump.

I searched in my backpack for a pencil and wrote down some words and held them up in his side mirror.