One Day At a Time ✔️

Ch. 30 She Needs You

Six hours ago

Crosshairs’ P.O.V.
“DRIFT!” I yell after Drift, trying to catch up to him as he runs to the hangar, but he got a good head start, and I watch him drive away.
Damn it, do I go after him or stay with Jamie?

Optimus and I run into Red Alert’s office. He tries to track Drift, but his comlink is off, and we discover he left his phone here.
“I should have followed him, but Jamie....”
Mirage quickly volunteers to try to find Drift along with Jazz and the twins. 
“If you find him, don’t scold him,” Optimus says, “this has been hard on him.”
I watch the team leave, hoping they’ll find him before he does anything stupid.

Of course, Jamie wakes up and is looking for him. I worry she’s scared that she’s dying as I watch her chest rise and fall. I don’t know if I want to have Ratchet put her in a coma or not, but that would help her body fight the damn pneumonia. She does not like she can’t make a sound, but she’s already struggling to breathe, so it’s not good to put the speaking valve on.
“You want me to hold you?” I ask as I take her hand.
I didn’t think she’d squeeze my hand; she looks awful. No room to lie with her on the bed.
Jamie is limp as I pick her up and sit on the chair. She leans on me as tears roll down her face.

The next day, I’m given good news; a city traffic light got a picture of Drift’s alt mode. The bad news is the team wasn’t close to the location, and who knows how far from that city Drift is? He’s in danger; either he’s thinking about offlining himself or looking for the cons.
Ratchet tells me Jamie has been crying for the past twenty minutes. Even though crying, for now, is only tears rolling down her face, it hurts. I don’t know what to do, and I can’t even scold Drift with a text. 

Drift’s P.O.V.
I don’t know how I fell asleep, but I didn’t sleep for long. I sit at the cliff’s edge, watching the sunrise. I can’t go back and watch her suffer and eventually die.
“Drift!” I hear Mirage.
No, they found me. What will they do since I’m close to the cliff’s edge?
Four holoforms rush towards me.
“I’M NOT GOING BACK!”
“She needs you,” Mirage says, “Crosshairs tells us she’s looking for you.”
“No, I-I can’t watch her...”
I can’t even say it without crying. The terror twins move me away from the cliff. I didn’t think Sunstreaker would hug me. The others surround us.
“I know it’s hard watching Jamie go through this, but she needs you,” Mirage says.
How can I honor her last wish while feeling depressed? 
I don’t want to talk to Crosshairs or Ratchet. I’m glad Jamie can’t make a sound when she cries. Mirage still calls Ratchet and puts him on speaker. Ratchet claims Jamie will be ok even though this is a tough battle for her, but she’s very weak.
“She wants you, Drift,” Crosshairs adds.
I didn’t think Ratchet would switch to a video call, showing me Crosshairs holding Jamie.
No, I keep failing her. How long before I fail someone else?

Mirage’s P.O.V.
What we see next is scary; Drift falls to the ground and is convulsing. Ratchet orders us to use a ground bridge to get back. We’ll have to have some soldiers help tow Drift’s alt mode back.

Ratchet’s concern grows when Drift doesn’t wake up. 
This is complicated; we can have seizures — though we don’t call them that — but I’ve never seen one triggered by stress. As Ratchet puts it, Drift’s processor had an electrical disturbance. He’s under a lot of stress from this situation. Should we be grateful it took sixty-three days for this to happen? In a messed-up way, we are grateful Jamie is too weak to concentrate on Drift’s Energon signature. She doesn’t know what’s going on.

Crosshairs’ P.O.V.
Jamie is asleep by the time Drift wakes up. He’s afraid I’ll yell at him for running away.
I hug him, and he lets himself cry as he hugs me. The three of us are close like a family, but I don’t think I’ll know his pain watching the one he loves suffer like this. What worries me is, was he running away to find Megatron or end his life? There’s nothing else I can say to help him. He looks like he’s been up all night and draining through energy faster than he should be while using his holoform. I get him to sleep on the bed in the room we’re in.

“You don’t think he did anything to his bipedal form to cause this?” I ask Ratchet.
“No, this is extreme stress. Even for humans, it’s rare.”
I’m not going to ask when was the last time Ratchet saw this. I know he’s worried this will happen again, or I’ll get to that point.

Drift walks into the room as I’m tube-feeding Jamie. It’s rough watching him, the sadness in his eyes as he tries to bring her temperature down.
“She’s sleeping,” I assure him, knowing he’s worried Ratchet put her in a coma or worse.
He watches her chest rise and fall. He will not like how Ratchet had to adjust the ventilator settings, and Jamie needs a little help breathing. Ratchet walking in to draw blood and suction the crap from the trach worries Drift even though we know this is how Ratchet checks if Jamie is getting better.

“Hey, I.. um.. this is probably odd bringing in a nice recliner that rocks,” Mirage explains.
“Now?” I joke, “thanks, he’ll like it.”
We go talk in the hallway.

“Is he ok?” Mirage asks.
“No, I can tell...” I look in the window, watching Drift move the chair Mirage brought by the bed, “he thinks she’s dying; he will not like seeing she needs a little more help breathing — even if the ventilator isn’t doing all the work.”
“Scrap, I’d love to take care of Megatron now. Have you been up all night? Go to bed.”
“No, I’m fine.”
Mirage doesn’t argue with me. I don’t care if he wants to stay here.

Ratchet’s P.O.V.
It will be rough; a medically induced coma would help Jamie, but I worry about Drift’s mental state and wonder how far behind is Crosshairs?
“How is she?” Optimus asks.
“It’s going to be rough for a while,” I sigh, “she needs a little more help breathing than yesterday. I don’t know what to do with Drift — with them.”
“I honestly am tempted to find Megatron and fight him, but that will not help Jamie now.”
“No, and I hope the next time we encounter the cons, Jamie will be ready to fight alongside us.”