Bruises

Payback

Evelyn's POV
I slowly opened my eyes and sat up, looking at my surroundings. It looked like I was in some sort of hospital room. As I laid back down, I heard voices outside the door and quickly closed my eyes.

"You think that's a good choice?" I heard Ironhide ask as he stepped into the room.

"She's asleep. She won't feel a thing. Besides it barely hurts." The other person said as they walked closer to the bed I was on.

"If you say so..." I felt someone push lightly on my right forearm and wipe it with a wet cloth of some sort. I went to open my eyes, when I felt something prick me, making me flinch.

"I felt that." I said, looking at the man holding the needle into my arm.

"Oh, I'm sorry young one. I thought you were still asleep." He said, giving me a small smile then turned his attention back towards the needle. I sat up and looked over towards my left and saw Ironhide standing there, glaring at the man.

"You look like you're gonna kill someone." I said, chuckling. He finally looked at me and sat down in one of the chairs behind him.

"How ya feeling?" He asked, moving a strand of hair out of my face.

"Better." I said smiling. He smiled back at me then looked at the floor.

"Listen kid, I just wanted to apologize for-"

"I'm sorry." I said, looking down at the sheets, tears starting to form in my eyes. I felt the man pull the needle out and heard him walk towards the door after gathering his supplies. After the door closed, I heard Ironhide shift in his seat.

"Why are you sorry? I'm the one-"

"I didn't mean to upset you. I don't know what I did, but please know I didn't mean it. I-I don't w-want to go back to D-dad." I said, crying. "Please. I-" I felt Ironhide wrap his arms around me and gently lift me up as he sat down behind me. He set me on his lap and ran his fingers through my hair.

"I'm not taking you back. I promise." He whispered. After a few minutes, I stopped crying and my breathing went back to normal. We sat in silence until my stomach growled causing Ironhide to laugh. "Hungry?" He asked, smirking down at me.

"A little." I said. As we got up, the man from before came in and smiled at me, then gave a paper to Ironhide. Ironhide read over it quickly, glancing at me every once in while, then gave it back. The man then walked over to a computer and started typing away. "Psst. Ironhide." I whispered. He looked at me then kneeled down. "Who is that man?" I asked.

"Oh, that's Ratchet. Our team's medic." He said, causing Ratchet to look over towards us.

"What about me?"

"Nothing. Evelyn was just asking who you were." Ironhide said standing back up. Ratchet grunted in response then turned back around to the screen. "That's my thing." Ironhide mumbled, starting to walk away. "C'mon. Let's go get you some food." He said. I quickly followed after him, only slowing down when I was right next to him. "What do you want to eat?" He asked, as we entered a cafeteria.

"An apple." I said, looking around. I noticed that almost everyone was wearing a uniform except for a group sitting at table in the corner.

"Just an apple?" He asked, looking down at me quizzically. I nodded and looked at what he was wearing.

"How come you aren't wearing a uniform?" He looked down at his clothes which consisted of gray sweatpants and a puke green shirt and sighed. His holoform vanished, then quickly reappeared before I could start panicking.

"Is this better?" He asked, motioning to the camo pants and black muscle shirt.

"... You didn't have to change." I said, laughing as he glared at me.

"Go sit." He said starting to walk away.

"Where?" I asked, starting to panic as I looked around once again.

"Anywhere. It doesn't matter." He said, then disappeared to get food.

"Ironhide!" Everyone looked at me as I yelled after him. I inched back towards the door and gave a shaky smile as everyone continued to stare at me until they started to talk amongst each other again. Sighing, I felt a hand land on my shoulder causing me to jump and fall on my butt.

"I'm sorry! I didn't mean to scare you! Are you alright?" I looked behind me and saw a younger man with a red streak in his hair staring down at me.

"Um, yeah. I'm fine." I said, standing up. I turned around to face the man and smiled at him. "I'm Evelyn." I said, sticking my hand out.

"Sideswipe." He said, shaking my hand. "Would you like to sit with us?" He asked motioning towards the table in the corner.

"Sure." I said, following him. When we got to the table, there were only four other people there. "Hello." I said, waving.

"Hello, young one. What is your name?" A man with red and blue hair asked.

"Evelyn." I said, taking a seat next to Sideswipe.

"Well, Evelyn, I am Optimus Prime. This is Jazz," He said, motioning to the man next to him. "Prowl, and Sunstreaker."

"But you can just call him Sunny." Sideswipe said.

"No you can't." He said glaring at me.

"Be nice!" Sideswipe said, elbowing him. "Just ignore my brother when he's like that." Sideswipe said smiling at me.

"That's all the time." Jazz said, laughing. After a few more minutes of small talk, Ironhide came up with a tray of food and set it in front of me.

"I just wanted an apple." I said, looking at everything on the tray. Eggs, toast, pancakes, grapes, yogurt, etc.

"Just eat what you can. Whatever you don't finish, these guys will eat." He said, sitting across from me. I grabbed the apple and started eating it, self-conscious of the others staring at me. I grab the grapes and the yogurt next. Ironhide started talking to Optimus after a few minutes. Sometime during that, Prowl and Jazz switched places. I opened the yogurt and dumped some grapes in. I went to grab a spoon but realized I didn't have one.

"Here." I looked over and saw Jazz holding out a plastic spoon. "Don't worry, I didn't use it." He said.

"Thanks." I grabbed the spoon from him and scooped up a grape covered completely in yogurt. I went to open my mouth when I noticed Ironhide glance at me from the corner of his eye. I smiled then reposition the spoon to face him. I pulled it back and waited until he started to talk again. He opened his mouth and I shot the grape causing the three beside me to snicker. The grape landed inside his mouth causing him to pause mid-sentence and bite it. He looked over at me as I scooped up another grape and ate it with my head turned away from him. After a few seconds, he tapped the place in front of me. I looked towards him and saw him holding a spoonful of yogurt. Before I could question him, he flung if at me, making it splatter all over my face. Everyone at the table was laughing as I wiped the yogurt off with a napkin.

"I didn't get it all over your face." I said glaring at him.

"Im sorry." He said, smiling at me. "But that's payback for earlier." He said.

"Payback for what?" I asked, groaning as I noticed I had it in my hair.

"Drooling on my seats."