Hey there everybody! Merry Christmas, happy holidays and all that jazz! I've been doing a little work with Topkicker26 and we came up with this. So be sure to leave her some credit for this! Enjoy and leave your thoughts in reviews!

"Ratchet, get out of the way!" I yelled as the rogue Decepticon fired off several shots, one of them headed right for my brother. A small smile of triumph flashed over Starscream's face as he saw my brother crumple to the ground. Alright, that's enough. This slagger is pissing me off. Raising my plasma cannon I let loose three rounds, slamming into his lower chest, arm and leg. He limped for several steps before transforming back into his F-22 Raptor guise and taking off.

"Hold on Ratch, stay with me now." I said, lifting him from the ground. A quick scan of my surroundings showed Lennox and his team to be about 300 yards west of my current position. With little hindrance for the fragile buildings that surrounded me I made my way to them, going slowly so as to not cause Ratchet more pain.

"You fool." He whispered, and he was right. I was a fool. I couldn't fix him, none of us could. He was the Medical Officer, the one who had been trained back on Cybertron on how to care for the wounded and injured.

"Ironhide, what happened?" William Lennox, the commander of an elite team of humans that fought with us, asked. I had come to respect Lennox, while not having as much military experience as, well, me he was quite skilled for a human.

"Starscream." I growled, laying my brother down on the ground gently.

"Alright, we need to get you guys back to base. I'll radio ahead to let them know." Lennox said, walking off with the other humans. Everything passed by me in a blur. Ratchet was pulled gently inside one of the C-130 Hercules cargo planes that transported us. With a slight groan I pressed my whole body inward, finally emerging as a GMC Topkick.

I moved up the ramp, headed for a place at the side of my brother. He had been unable to transform back into his Hummer guise so he sat there as pain racked through his body. The hours back to our base seemed to take longer and longer until I was almost certain my processor had melted away. Once the plane touched down at our new Arizona base and the ramp lowered did I finally manage to get Ratchet back into my arms before I placed him on the runway's pavement.

"Ironhide, go on. We've got someone coming to try and-and..." One soldier said, trailing of at the end. I knew what he was going to say though. They found someone that they think could fix him. As the humans would say, yeah right.

"Come on." Optimus, our leader, told me. I nodded and rose to my feet. But still, I was able to notice the black government sedan pulling up and the girl who got out of it. She was in her twenties and had a golden tan, her golden hair had been pulled up into a ponytail. A maroon shirt, bearing the slogan 'I Only Kiss Sun Devil Fans' in gold, was resting on her along with a pair of jeans and boots.

This was who they brought in to try and fix my brother? A scruffy organic female who looked more at home in a human mall than working on an Autobot? My brother was doomed, and it was my fault. If only I had thrown myself in front of Starscream's missile, I could have taken the hit. I'm tough, it would have only been a scratch.

Ironhide, stop thinking like that. A voice in my head said, almost like it was out of breath. I smiled slightly, Ratchet had activated his communication, or COM, link to speak to me. Even though the link was internal I could still feel his pain through the link. It had to do with us being brothers, siblings in our species had a special connection with each other. We always knew where the other one were and we could, unfortunately, feel each others pain through the COM link.

You don't know what I'm thinking. I responded, trying to cover the panic in my had also had one more brother, Jazz. He was our reconnaissance officer, given to annoying us when we were unhappy. I missed him deeply, a wound so deep that I fear my Spark, a Cybertronian's equivalent of a heart, was scarred so much that I might not be able to live if Ratchet died. When Jazz had known that he was going to die, as soon as Megatron, the leader of our enemies, had picked him up he had sent out one last COM link before he was offlined.

Love you guys.

But I know you too well, I don't need to know what you're thinking. Ratch joked, trying to laugh through his pain. I swear I could have saved him. It still weighed heavy on my conscious. If I lost one more brother, my Spark wouldn't be able to take it anymore. I was the older brother, for Primus' sake. I'm supposed to protect them!

But, that stupid human femme they brought in can't possibly be able to fix you. I told him, bringing the obvious into the spotlight.

Actually she's not doing a half bad job, she was a bit nervous though. Optimus had to tell her that she was able to do this. I think I will make it out of this Ironhide. I'm not done yet. He laughed, and truth be told if I focused enough I could feel her rooting around in his chest. Pieces of metal that had caused him pain were thrown aside as if they were meaningless. Well, in truth they were meaningless. They only caused pain.

Well, I'm glad for that. Keeping your slagging aft in gear is one thing I don't want to be responsible for.