A/N: The final chapter. And only two weeks after the last one! Sadly, I think that may be a record for me. There's a super long author's note at the end if anyone cares. To anyone still reading this, thank you. I hope you've enjoyed it.

Sam drifted below consciousness. There was a certain point that the presence wouldn't let him drift below, but moving towards consciousness hurt and it didn't push him too hard towards it. Sam just wanted to stay here where it was warm and he didn't have to deal with all those lights or noises and the presence was a welcome company.

He wasn't aware how much time had passed, but the presence grew impatient. It urged him forwards, trying to convey it's need for him to wake. And so, he did. It was painful in the waking world. But at least it was still warm. Opening his eyes Sam slowly looked around. He was lying on a couple of blankets pressed up against Sunstreaker who was laying on the berth on his side with one hand over Sam like a blanket. Sam could see several small tubes slipping through Sunstreaker's fingers to hook up to very human looking drips. He wondered if Ratchet managed to mess with things that small on his own or if he'd gotten the help of a human doctor. From where he was laying, Sam could see a couple of much more alien looking pieces of equipment nearby; probably wirelessly keeping tabs on him.

Sam looked up to meet Sunstreaker's… he was just going to call them eyes until told differently. He gave a lethargic brush to the presence in his mind.

"That's you, isn't it." It wasn't really a question, but Sunstreaker answered with a quiet affirmative anyways. He supposed it was all the drugs Ratchet likely had him on, but Sam couldn't bring himself to question it. Instead closing his eyes and falling back into a light sleep under Sunstreaker's careful watch.

The second time Sam woke it was to voices.

"Sunstreaker! Calm down and listen. Barring the fact that we don't have another body- and we're not just keeping him in your sparkchamber until we do- with the supplies I have now, best case scenario would be that the extraction fails and he's paralyzed for life. Even with better supplies, his spark is so thoroughly integra— "

The wall of irritation that was mental Sunstreaker seemed to melt as he realized Sam was awake. Sunstreaker gently reached out to sooth even as he felt a prick in his neck and was once again rendered unaware.

The second time Sam woke… Yeah… The second time he woke it was much more fully than the first time. Sunstreaker was still in the same position. Sam pushed at the hand covering him, Sunstreaker lifting it and using it to help him as he sat up.

"Thanks." Just sitting up should not be that hard. Looking down at himself he couldn't help his wince. He was only wearing a pair of clean boxers, though he didn't really need a shirt as his torso was mostly covered in bandages. His left arm and leg were covered in some kind of hard cast-equivalent-looking-something. And most of his visible skin was varying shades of lovely blue and purple. There were a few small… things stuck to him that seemed to be how the machines were monitoring his vitals. All in all, he looked pretty bad. But hey, at least he wasn't dead.

He could feel the mounting displeasure as Sunstreaker looked him over as well.

"Hey, thanks to you, I survived. It's going to be ok." Sunstreaker looked unconvinced, and the displeasure twisted a little bit, but he stopped looking Sam over.

XoXoXoX

Over a month later, Sam was ready to do whatever he had to for some time to himself. Sunstreaker could tell. The sheer amount of broken bones, all on the same side, prevented crutches. And Sunstreaker wasn't about to let Sam use a wheelchair when he could take Sam where he needed to be just fine.

"C'mon Sunny. It's just the cafeteria for a while and I'll be with Lennox the whole time. You trust Lennox, right?"

"Whether or not I trust him doesn't matter when the fact that there will be other soldiers in there I don't trust still stands." As an afterthought he added, "And don't call me that." But they both knew it was just for show.

Sunstreaker looked over the casts, a light scan showing how all but the worst bruises and cuts were gone and that the two stab wounds were healing well. The constant scans annoyed Sam too, but he understood Sunstreaker needed them.

Why were humans so fragile if it took so long for them to heal? If Sam were still cybertronian Ratchet would have had him good as new within a few days. And honestly, if Sam were still cybertronian he wouldn't have gotten so injured in the first place.

His musings were broken by a small warm hand against his facial plating, imperceptible if he didn't have his sensors attuned to such a touch. The human on his shoulder gave him an exasperated smile.

"Sunny, it's gonna be ok." And just as the last hundred times he'd said that, Sunstreaker was only a little closer to believing it than the last time.

XoXoXoX

When Prowl had first responded that his team was inbound Sunstreaker had been thrilled. But with each passing day he grew a little more anxious. Which sucked for Sam, because he'd finally been getting somewhere with the whole 'you really don't have to obsessively watch me 24/7' thing. Back to square one, Sam wondered who this Prowl guy was. Obviously Sunstreaker was close the mech, but he hadn't really been willing to share that much about him.

Optimus Prime had been willing to share that he was the Autobot's second in command and head tactician. Jazz had shared that he was a logic driven mech but a good one, once you got past the cold exterior. Neither Bumblebee nor Ironhide had had much to add, but Ratchet had mentioned that Prowl had helped him practically raise Sunstreaker. Ratchet would have gone on, but a glare from Sunstreaker had prevented him from doing so. Ratchet had given him a glare right back, but respected Sunstreaker's wish that Sam be left completely in the dark.

Ok, maybe not completely in the dark, as Sam had been able to pry a few stories out of Sunstreaker once he knew Ratchet and this mystery mech had raised him. For the most part though, asking about Prowl just made Sunstreaker tense. It baffled Sam, but at this point he just wanted to meet the mech already.

Sunstreaker had been in a better mood than usual today and he'd tried pressing for a little more information about Sunny's past. The last story Sunstreaker had told kind of sounded like there was another mech with him and he'd asked who it was. Sunstreaker had gotten real quiet, pulling Sam off his shoulder to hold in his cupped hands. Mentally, Sunstreaker had clutched him in an embrace Sam would have called desperate if it wasn't so careful. More in response than understanding, Sam hugged him back.

"I'm sorry. I didn't realize that would be a sensitive topic."

"You had no way of knowing. Besides, it's like you keep telling me; it's…" Sunstreaker made a face, unable to make himself say the words.

"It's going to be ok." Sunstreaker did nod, but in acknowledgment, not agreement.

XoXoXoX

Prowl's team was given the coordinates to their current temporary base, just outside of Tranquility, as they made orbit. Sunstreaker had to suppress a smirk when Prowl drove up as a Saleen S281 police car. He was gonna love the look on Prowl's faceplates when he learned who else picked that same alt-mode. There was a flicker of fear from Sam when he saw the car, but a soothing pulse from Sunstreaker quelled that.

Transforming, Prowl gave Sunstreaker the briefest of glances that both conveyed his happiness to see Sunstreaker again, and the confusion of an organic; possibly for being here at the formal initial meeting, more likely at being on Sunstreaker's shoulder armor.

Later, after all the briefings and higher up stuff that Sunstreaker was forever grateful he never had to attend; Prowl sought him out. To a stranger, Prowl looked as straight faced as ever. But the slight quirk to his mouth and the way he held his door wings a little bit higher than normal screamed to Sunstreaker how happy he was. Even if still confused.

Approaching a smiling Sunstreaker and an openly curious Sam, Prowl extended his right servo; already practicing using the human's customs in front of them.

"It is good to see you again, Sunstreaker." Instead of shaking his servo, Sunstreaker grabbed it by the back and turned it so the palm was facing up. Sunstreaker's smile spread into a grin as Prowl's face bloomed with confusion. Reaching to his shoulder to grab Sam he stated,

"Sam, this is Prowl." Placing Sam in Prowl's servo he continued, "Prowl, this is Sam." Door wings spreading a few degrees in mild alarm, Prowl looked back and forth between the grinning front-liner and the human in his servo.

"You break him this early and it's on your helm!" Sunstreaker looked over Prowl's shoulder at Ratchet, probably coming from the same meeting Prowl had.

Sunstreaker's grin somehow managed to grow further. Sam was right. His family was finally back together and he knew,

It was all going to be alright.

A/N: The. End.

You guys have no idea how happy I am to finally have my first finished story. I got a request to continue this through the other movies and while I'm extremely flattered that even one person feels that way, I'm not sure. Even if I were to take this through, I wouldn't want to stick with the movies except as a vague base at most. I've also got three other stories I'm going to be working on thanks to a single trip to the tf bunny farm… so yeah. When chapter one for each of those go up I'm going to do a poll for which one gets updated next that will be reset every time I post a chapter. (If one story gets one vote, that'll be enough for me.) If two more people say they want a TL sequel I'll add it to the poll. (Because three is a magic number. Didn't you ever watch School House Rock as a kid? Sheesh.) Be warned though, I have fully fleshed out, typed out, outlines for the longer two, something typed out for the short third and nothing right now for any kind of sequel to TL.

A word on Cybertronian Family. Forever ago, when I was working on this, another story came out with the same premise I was heading towards. When theirs turned out fantastic I was kind of embarrassed by mine and more importantly didn't want to look like I was copying. It took enough of a different turn that I felt safe with mine, only I realized I'd forgotten all of it. ALL of it. It was actually a few months ago that I randomly remembered all of it in the shower. And I hate it. It's childish, and exactly the kind of fic I hope to avoid. I do like the base I've already posted though and if anyone has any prompts or ideas they're willing to share I'd be happy to hear them.