Hidden Spark on Earth (TFP)

Chapter 6

"It wasn't his best moment." Optimus looked ahead as he entered the lobby, Ratchet and Arcee were waiting patiently. "I have managed to convince Saphira to allow you to inspect her injuries."

"Good. Place her up on the berth here, that way she won't be able to try and get away." Ratchet pats the berth by him with his left hand, waiting for Optimus to bring her over.

Saphira trembled a little. She guessed he just wanted to stop her from running off and getting caught by decepticons. Optimus lowered her to the berth and she stepped off carefully. She didn't know if she wanted to hide or run, but she felt incredibly nervous in front of the autobots.

"Alright, I assume what I saw this morning was just a small portion of your injuries. I would like to see the rest please." Ratchet looked at her with an expecting look.

Saphira looked away from him, feeling the pressure before she peeled her jacket off first. The bots gasped as they see the bruises on her upper arms, they were huge bruises and they were still very sore. She gripped her shirt and slipped it off, she left her bra on even though the bots likely would not have any idea about naked humans. Again, the bruises on her stomach, chest, back, ribs and sides were huge. Her ribs were darker from being kicked. Finally, she slipped off the jeans, as there were bruises on her thighs and backside, thankfully the bruises didn't cover her entire legs.

"Who would do such a thing?" Arcee asked with a sad expression. "And why do her shoulders and ribs seemed to be more...defined?"

"She is underweight, I think," Ratchet said and he began to scan her body, causing Saphira to jump. "Be still, Saphira. I can't scan the extent of your injuries if you move around."

She looked away from him sadly, standing as still as possible, while also feeling awkward about being almost naked in front of the autobots. Still, she felt as though she annoyed Ratchet again, she had not meant to jump but she wasn't expecting to be scanned.

"By the All Spark..." Ratchet shakes his head once he scanned her whole body. "These injuries are not days old. They're years."

"Years? How would that be possible?" Arcee asked, her optics widen as she had not expected to hear that. She looked at Saphira in disbelief. "Who did this to you?"

Saphira winced at the fierceness of Arcee's voice. "It's fine...it will heal..."

Ratchet looked at her with a frown as Saphira began to pull her clothes back on. "How can you say that when you have endured these injuries for years?"

She shrugged. "I dunno...I guess...I got used to it..."

"That has to be one of the most disturbing things I have ever heard," Optimus said in a slow, sad tone. "No one deserves to be tormented like this. Much less for years."

Saphira pulled on her shirt after buttoning her jeans. "Maybe...but...I dunno."

"You should tell us, Saphira. Agent Fowler can probably help you." She frowned at Ratchet, making the bot frown at her back. "Don't look at me like that, it is good you can finally heal. But, if someone has done this to you for years, they could probably go to prison."

"It would not change anything," Saphira said bluntly, putting her jacket on and looked up at Optimus. "Can I go back to my room now? You got why you wanted. I will go and be out of your servos now."

"There is more, Saphira, you don't need to run from this." She groans and felt a sense of panic growing, making her tense and nauseous all of a sudden whole she listens to Ratchet. "You are underweight, I am sure you know this. I believe you are small for your age because you haven't eaten properly for a long time. I know the kids brought you food, and I hope you've taken the chance to eat something. I would encourage you to eat as much as you can."

She grimaced at the idea of forcing herself to eat more than once a day. "Yeah, yeah..."

"Ep, ep, ep!" Ratchet snapped, startling Saphira with his stern voice. "This is serious. I don't want you to keep living a life of..."

"A life of what, huh?" Saphira interrupts, placing her hands on her hips as she glared back at Ratchet. "A life of being invisible? Because I am good at that, and that is what I want remain until I finish school and leave town to start somewhere new."

Ratchet shakes his head at her. "I have a hard time understanding why you seem to misunderstand me."

"I understand you perfectly," She snapped, throwing up her hands in frustration. "Now can I please go back to my room? I need to catch up on..." She covered her mouth suddenly as she felt the rush of nausea and ran to the opposite side of the berth to heaven heavily.

The autobots grimace at the sight. "That is not what I wanted to happen..." Ratchet groaned, rubbing his forehead. "The last thing we needed was for her to be purging."

Saphira took deep breaths as the nausea settled and she stepped back from the edge of the berth. "I'm sorry..." She said in a small voice, keeping her back to the bots. "I can clean it up..."

"No, don't worry about it. Just...take her back to her room Optimus. I think we are dealing with more than just physical pain...the girl doesn't even want to tell us about it." Ratchet walked away to get some cleaning equipment to clean up the vomit.

Saphira felt fresh tears in her ears and turned her head to see Optimus's extended hand. She climbed into the palm silently, sitting carefully so she did not feel sore. She pulled her knees up to hug them and hide her face, not realizing that the autobots were giving her sad expressions.

Optimus looked at the girl as he walked back to her room with a sad expression. He does not know her story, he does not know why she has been hurt and he does not know why she seemed to believe she was a nuisance to the autobots. She was not a nuisance. Ratchet and Arcee have been the least helpful in making the humans feel welcome, he will admit. But neither wanted to see the humans suffer.

Aside from that, there was something about this girl that has got his interest. Optimus didn't know why, he just was interested in her. He wanted to know everything about her so he could protect her from has been hurting her. She was so small and fragile...it somehow tugged at his spark more than it did when he was told about Jack and Raf meeting Arcee and the decepticons unintentionally. He didn't know why.

He reached her room, looking around at it and wondering if more could be done to make her feel more at home. He exhaled and lowered his hand to the floor. "I hope you..." He didn't get to finish the sentence as Saphira jumped from his hand and ran to the showers, slamming the door behind her.

Optimus did not call out to her, but her heard the sound of her sobbing that filled the room shortly after. The sound again tugged at his spark. He shakes his head, it felt foolish to feel this way. Yet he could not shake it. He leaves the room as he knew being here was not going to make things better. It was up to Saphira to open up to them, and they had to prove they could be trusted.